Donald Trump has once again weighed in on the United Kingdom, saying on Tuesday that Keir Starmer was “not Winston Churchill” and repeating his complaint about the agreement to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Here are some recent things the US president has said about British issues and how they compare to reality.
‘I will say that the UK has been very, very uncooperative with that stupid island of theirs, which they gave away and took a 100 year lease; having to do, perhaps, with indigenous peoples who claim the island and who had never seen it before. What is all this due to?
The president of the United States has changed his mind on this so many times that it has been difficult to keep up. It was a good deal and then a bad one. Now he has caused some minor inconvenience to his plans to attack Iran, he has lashed out – again. There is a slightly mangled truth in what he said: the Chagos Islands deal grants sovereignty to Mauritius in exchange for a lease of Diego Garcia, the island used for a major air base between the UK and the US, although this is for 99 years rather than 100.
The part about “indigenous peoples” is more out of place. The Chagos Islanders have been in exile since Diego Garcia was forcibly removed more than 50 years ago to make way for the base. But the deal is the result of fears that failing to secure Diego Garcia’s future in Mauritius could leave the archipelago vulnerable to incursions from China or others.
‘They have windmills everywhere that are ruining the country, ruining the landscapes. Open the North Sea.
The comment, also from Tuesday, is Trump’s latest on wind farms, which he insists on calling windmills. Like Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, it argues that sustainable energy sources like wind ruin the landscape and, unlike fossil fuels, are neither efficient nor reliable.
The aesthetics of wind turbines is a subjective matter, but Starmer and his ministers would disagree over their use. The UK government is prioritizing green energy sources as a way to ensure reliable power without being at the mercy of global oil and gas price fluctuations. There is also no evidence that increased drilling in the North Sea will noticeably affect global prices.
“Their energy prices are through the roof.”
Also starting this week. Trump has previously said that the prices Britons pay for energy are the highest in the world.
Once again, within the boast is a nugget of truth. When it comes to commercial and domestic electricity supplies, UK users pay more or less high rates than any other comparable country.
However, this is largely due to gas’s dependence on UK electricity prices. Electricity generated by wind and solar power is much cheaper, meaning Trump’s message about the need to return to fossil fuels is meaningless.
“There are sharia courts that judge the law.”
Also from Trump’s comments on Tuesday, and part of his ongoing, though largely one-sided, standoff with London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
This repeated claim is based on his apparently racist belief that many cities in the United Kingdom, especially London, are under the rule of radical Islam.
The claim about sharia courts is not true, in Trump’s sense that they dispense justice. There are a small number of sharia courts – more commonly called sharia councils – but they are nothing more than community arbitration bodies without legal powers, much like the Orthodox Jewish Beth Din courts that also exist in the UK, but which Trump mysteriously never mentions.
