{"id":516077,"date":"2026-06-24T13:03:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T13:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/516077\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T13:03:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T13:03:18","slug":"starmers-exit-exposes-dirty-secret-uk-cant-afford-ukraine-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/516077\/","title":{"rendered":"Starmer’s exit exposes dirty secret: UK can’t afford Ukraine War"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sir Keir Starmer bowed to the inevitable<\/a> Monday and resigned from leadership of the Labour Party and, therefore, from his role as prime minister. <\/p>\n

The resignation had been brewing for some time. While Starmer led the Labour Party to an astounding landslide election victory in July 2024, by September 2025, he was already being labeled the most unpopular prime minister<\/a> since polling began; this followed a series of U-turns and poorly handled crises. After heavy losses of council seats<\/a> in local elections in May, the Labour Party moved quickly to remove him.<\/p>\n

Former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is expected to become prime minister after an internal Labour Party leadership contest. (Labour maintains a majority in parliament, so it maintains the right to form a government.) Burnham will quickly find that he doesn\u2019t have the money to fix public services, double defense spending, and continue to fund an unwinnable war in Ukraine. He also faces an almighty struggle to convince his party that aligning with the Trump administration<\/a> on peace in Europe<\/a> is the right approach, both politically and fiscally. <\/p>\n

Up until June 17, Burnham wasn\u2019t a member of parliament. But after a sitting MP gave up their seat, he won the ensuing bi-election<\/a> by a landslide. A cabinet minister under Tony Blair, he is by far the most popular Labour politician and the person viewed as most able to take on the surging right-wing Reform party<\/a>. Having been out of frontline British politics for nine years in Manchester, Burnham has built up a reputation as someone who gets things done<\/a> and is relatable, qualities Starmer appeared to lack. <\/p>\n

To outfox Reform, Burnham will have to reinstall public confidence that the government is improving the lives of ordinary Britons in the face of an ongoing immigration surge<\/a>, a cost of living crisis and a knife crime epidemic, typified by the at times violent street protests that followed the killing of Henry Nowak<\/a>. <\/p>\n

His biggest challenge? Finding the money<\/a> to deliver real change with anemic growth and the national debt at 94% of GDP. <\/p>\n

An obvious place to look would be the blank check approach Britain \u2013 under both Conservative and Labour governments \u2013 has taken to supporting the proxy war in Ukraine, which has so far cost $29 billion (\u00a321.8 billion).<\/a> <\/p>\n

That might not sound like a huge proportion of government spending. But Starmer\u2019s government faced stiff resistance and had to back away from making a much smaller cut of \u00a35 billion<\/a> to welfare spending. When your budget is so tight that you have to look at cutting winter fuel payments to the elderly<\/a>, then it becomes harder to justify funnelling billions towards a distant war. <\/p>\n

Aligning with the Trump administration to press for a peace settlement would be the rational and realist thing to do. But there\u2019s a catch. The Labour Party and Burnham himself dislike Donald Trump. In 2025, for example, the putative prime minister accused Trump of \u201cbringing instability to the world<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n

Starmer had a troubled relationship with Trump throughout his mandate. The night before Starmer\u2019s resignation, Trump had posted on Truth Social<\/a> that Starmer was leaving after \u201cfailing badly on immigration and energy.\u201d That was hopefully the last on a long list of snipes by the U.S. President. But Burnham will struggle to change the script in an anti-Trump Labour Party. Starmer\u2019s cabinet was littered with ministers who had criticized Trump<\/a> over the years, including one who called him an \u201codious, sad, little man.\u201d <\/p>\n

Further complicating relations was Starmer\u2019s appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson as Britain\u2019s Ambassador to Washington, which proved to be a catastrophic mistake<\/a> after further revelations about the depths of his association with Jeffrey Epstein came to light. <\/p>\n

To his credit, Starmer invested some effort<\/a> into papering over the cracks. The visit of His Majesty the King to Washington<\/a> in May offered a rare bright spot, focusing on the strong ties that bind the United States and the United Kingdom. <\/p>\n

However, the flip-flopping of U.K. support<\/a> for the U.S. war against Iran<\/a> cast a shadow across the relationship. And it was on Ukraine policy where Starmer was most at odds with the U.S. President. <\/p>\n

While Trump was and is able to surface some uncomfortable truths about the state of Ukraine \u2014 i.e. that it cannot win a war against Russia<\/a> \u2014 Starmer remained a true believer in eventual victory.<\/p>\n

Where Trump has met President Vladimir Putin in Alaska and spoken to him several times<\/a>, Keir Starmer didn\u2019t speak to the Russian President once during his two years in office. <\/p>\n

Where Trump tried to orchestrate the skeleton of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, Starmer rejected its key aspect<\/a>, on the complex issue of territorial concessions, out of hand. <\/p>\n

The list is long and not distinguished. Starmer made himself one of the biggest obstacles to Trump\u2019s aspirations to bring the war in Ukraine to a close, aligning himself with the Europeans who hold to the same view.<\/p>\n

And yet Burnham will quickly find that something\u2019s got to give. He can\u2019t fix decrepit public services in Britain, double defense spending, and continue to support an unwinnable war in Ukraine. The math will never add up. <\/p>\n

He should be aware that Reform Party leader Nigel Farage is close to Trump<\/a> and spends most of his time talking about domestic policy challenges, which is clearly resonating<\/a> with ordinary voters. <\/p>\n

For much of my diplomatic career, my European counterparts regularly sniped about the depth of the United Kingdom\u2019s relationship with the United States, and how this eroded European solidarity. Yet, right now, the British and the American position on the Ukraine war<\/a> could not be further apart. <\/p>\n

With Britain having left the European Union, Burnham will arrive in power with a brief window of opportunity to realign with America in the interests of European peace. The tides of British domestic politics suggest that this may help him to rebuild Labour popularity against an onrushing Farage while also delivering much needed savings. I doubt, however, that the Labour party will like this idea at all. Burnham\u2019s honeymoon period may prove to be as truncated as his rise to power.<\/p>\n

From Your Site Articles<\/p>\n

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