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'It makes us all really cross': Deputy Labour leader hits out at Trump and says changing PM is 'last thing' country needs

Lucy Powell defended Sir Keir Starmer and refused to be drawn into calls the King's visit to the US should be cancelled

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Ms Powell appeared on LBC's Tom Swarbrick on Drive.
Ms Powell appeared on LBC's Tom Swarbrick on Drive. Picture: LBC

By Alex Storey

Deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell has told LBC that Donald Trump's war in Iran has made the UK "really kind of cross" but played down suggestions the King should postpone his state visit.

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The Middle East conflict remains in a fragile position with fears growing that the two-week ceasefire deal between the US, Isreal and Iran could collapse.

Hosting a phone-in with Tom Swarbrick on Drive, Ms Powell said the President was "throwing insult after insult" towards the Prime Minister and said his decisions were making the country cross.

Asked by Tom if she thought Trump is "still all there," the deputy leader said: "I'm not getting into the mental state of the. I don't know him, I don't know him.

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"But what I do know is that, the decisions that he's taken to start this war in Iran are having very serious consequences for us at home.

"That does make me angry. Like, it makes Kieran, Rachel. They've said the same. It makes us all cross, really kind of cross."

The war of words between Trump and the UK has raised uncertainty on King Charles' visit to the US later this month but both sides have insisted the visit will go ahead.

The president described the monarch as "wonderful" and said he was looking forward to "just being with" the King.

The President is due to welcome the King later this month.
The President is due to welcome the King later this month. Picture: Alamy

But asked if it was still right to allow the visit to go ahead, Ms Powell said: "This is a state visit that's about celebrating 250 years of sort of US independence and our partnership and alliance.

"It endures our alliance and our relationship with America. As I say, it endures decades, endures two decades and it will endure beyond any particular president at any point in time."

Starmer has received mix reception from the general pubic and other MPs over the UK's response to the war, but the Prime Minister has insisted getting involved in the conflict is not in the nation's "national interest."

The Prime Minister has refused to be drawn into involving the UK in the war.
The Prime Minister has refused to be drawn into involving the UK in the war. Picture: Alamy

Throwing her support behind the leader, Ms Powell told the phone-in that a change of leader is the "last thing that the country needs or wants."

She added: "We are now in the middle of a war in the Middle East. There's going to be huge ramifications for many weeks and months to come.

"I think Keir has shown really cool head, strong, decisive leadership. When he was coming under a huge amount of pressure from America, from opposition parties here at home, from the media and elsewhere to join in this Iran war.

"He was really clear that we were not going to do that. This is not a British war. We are not join, we are learning the lessons from Iraq and he wasn't going to do that."