Starmer: Trump’s Puppet
Keir Starmer has whacked up defence spending.
But by how much is anybody’s guess. Starmer has been parading a £13.4 billion increase around the House of Commons like a show pony, whilst his Defence Secretary John Healey said the uplift was only £6 billion owing to inflation.
In a world hamstrung by the erratic recklessness of Russian President Vladimir Putin, more defence resources are a good thing. Who knows what’s going to happen next in Ukraine? Throw Donald Trump into the mix, and we want every penny we can to prevent World War 3 breaking out.
But, like everything with Starmer, it’s not that clear cut.
Here’s why.
The impact of the Chagos deal
I beg your pardon? I hear you exclaim. What’s the Chagos deal got to do with the price of fish? And what on earth even is Chagos anyway?
Chagos is a group of small islands in the Indian Ocean, often considered the last remains of the British Empire – most of which was wafted away by Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee after World War II.
For geographical reasons, one of the islands, called Diego Garcia, was the perfect place for a US-UK military base during the Cold War. The UK therefore decided to keep the Chagos Islands, separating it from soon-to-be independent Mauritius.
This all sounds excellent. But the International Court of Justice (ICJ) interfered, as it often does, and recently ruled that Britain’s sovereignty over Chagos was unlawful – hampering the military base from operating properly.
And this is why Chagos matters. Keir Starmer is planning a £9,000,000,000 deal to give Chagos back to Mauritius – but keep the military island, Diego Garcia, on loan to Britain for the next 99 years. Imagine if Manchester United bought a footballer called Diego Garcia on loan for £9 BILLION. This has got to be the worst loan deal ever negotiated.
It’s an unbelievably hefty price tag – which probably wasn’t budgeted for. Lo and behold, we suddenly get a £13.4 billion increase in defence spending. That’s enough to send £9 billion on a cargo ship to Mauritius, whilst still looking more dangerous against Mr Putin.
It’s clever from Starmer – but not clever enough. Tory MPs asked Starmer to rule out using any of this extra defence money for the Chagos deal. Guess what? Starmer refused.
That’s alarm bell number one. Don’t be fooled – this money could quite easily be shipped off to some pretty islands instead of heading straight to the Ukrainian frontline.
Starmer: Trump’s hamstrung puppet
The second problem with this hike in defence spending is that you get the sense Starmer isn’t bothered about it at all. He talks about a generational opportunity to save the world, but he only cares what Donald Trump thinks.
On the Chagos deal, Foreign Secretary David Lammy openly admitted that if Trump doesn’t like it, ‘then there is no deal’.
On increasing defence spending, Starmer’s first priority was to woo Trump with big numbers.
Everything Starmer is doing right now is about impressing Donald Trump. Our Labour Prime Minister looks like a candidate on The Apprentice, brandishing big figures and kissing Trump’s toes to win his approval. And that, quite frankly, is embarrassing.
And how are we going to pay for it all?
Well, spending cuts, of course. Starmer is slashing the aid budget to save £6 billion – and the other £7-or-so billion is a case of creative accounting, inflation and using GDP growth to make a bigger number.
It’s all smoke and mirrors, devilishly embellishing the truth to get some good publicity – and sure as hell make up for the absolutely diabolical policy decisions of this government so far. It’s funny how Starmer obeys Trump’s every command, yet is so willing to turn his back on freezing pensioners, impoverished farmers and small businesses slapped with tax hikes.
Tax, tax… tax?
You can guess how this torrid tale will end.
Starmer has already refused to say if he’ll impose more punishing tax rises in the spring budget statement – a nice way of saying yes, taxes will rise again.
There is genuinely no other way. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is being held to ransom by her own fiscal rules and fabricated black holes, so it’ll be tax, tax, and more tax yet again come the spring.
Personally, I think this one should be called the Trump tax. Because this is the price we’ll pay for Starmer’s pussyfooting around Trump’s every puppeteering demand.
Image: Flickr/Number 10 (Simon Dawson)
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