'Not what it was': Trump and Starmer relationship timeline
How Donald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer have gone from shaking hands at Windsor to falling out over the Iran strikes
Sir Keir Starmer’s relationship with Donald Trump appears to have hit a low after a year-long effort for two unnatural allies to work together.
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The US president implied the oft-cited special relationship between the two countries has hit the rocks in blasting the prime minister’s perceived lack of support for America’s strikes on Iran.
His latest outburst follows his admonishment of Sir Keir over his delay in allowing the US to use the Chagos Islands airbase. Mr Trump said: “[Sir Keir] has not been helpful. I never thought I’d see that. I never thought I’d see that from the UK.
"We love the UK. It’s a different world, actually. It’s just a much different kind of relationship that we’ve had with your country before.”
The negative comments from the president are a world removed from pomp, pageantry and backslaps of the unprecedented second royal visit Mr Trump was granted last year.
But where has it gone right and wrong for this odd couple in their relationship thus far?
Trump and Starmer relationship timeline
Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025, with a new UK prime minister in Sir Keir as well as a different monarch from when he was last president from 2017 to 2021.
Republican Mr Trump and Labour PM Sir Keir are not natural allies.
The Chagos Islands, Nato spending and grooming gangs were all issues the president took issue with the prime minister over in the months after he entered No 10 in July 2024.
Elon Musk was also a challenge, with Mr Trump’s money saving government czar having called Sir Keir “evil”.
And Sir Keir, for his own party, had once tweeted: “An endorsement from Donald Trump tells you everything you need to know about what is wrong with Boris Johnson’s politics and why he isn’t fit to be prime minister.”
Despite their differences, the pair attempted to form a relationship.
February 2025: Trump accepts King's invite for 'unprecedented' second state visit
Sir Keir Starmer was not present at Mr Trump’s inauguration, but visited the Oval Office in February 2025, a few weeks into the 47th president’s term, and extended a royal invite from the King for an unprecedented second state visit.
The PM told the waiting media that the alliance between the US and the UK was "the greatest alliance for prosperity and security ... the world has ever seen".
"It would be an honour to be there,” Mr Trump said, in accepting the invite.
However, later that same week, Sir Keir was on the backfoot as Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the White House and had a turbulent meeting with Mr Trump and vice president JD Vance.
A No 10 spokesperson said Sir Keir was: "Doing all he can to find a path forward to a lasting peace based on sovereignty and security for Ukraine.”
June 2025: Trump keeps Starmer meeting but scraps others at truncated G7
Mr Trump left the G7 meeting in Canada early to focus on the developing Middle East crisis and cancelled meetings with Mr Zelenskyy and the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, both of whom had made the trip to discuss items with the president.
However, Mr Trump did make time to meet Sir Keir in Alberta. “The relationship that we have is fantastic,” the president said. “We’ve become friends in a short period of time.
“He’s slightly more liberal than I am, to put it mildly. But for some reason we get along.”
July 2025: Golf visit to the UK
Before his official state visit, Mr Trump was in the UK to open The New Course, the latest development to his Trump International Golf Links in Menie, Scotland.
During the visit, the president met with Sir Keir and praised the UK's "strong stance" on immigration. But, chancellor Rachel Reeves hit back at Mr Trump’s claim that wind farms are a “con job,” after he said they were ruining the view from one of his golf courses.
September 2025: Second state visit
Becoming the first US president to be treated to two British state visits, Mr Trump agreed a £150 billion tech deal with the UK and also met the King and Queen, enjoying a state banquet at Windsor Castle.
Despite questions looming over Lord Mandelson, who had been sacked as US ambassador due to links with Jeffrey Epstein, and a disagreement over Palestinian statehood, the visit was seen as a success.
Mr Trump said being with the "wonderful" King was the best part of his historic state visit to the UK, as he heaped praise on the royal family following the trip.
March 2026: Iran strikes
The US completed airstrikes on Iran but, shortly after, Mr Trump said he was “very disappointed” in Sir Keir for initially blocking the US from using the Diego Garcia military base.
Mr Trump said Sir Keir "took far too long" to change his mind, and then further criticised the prime minister. "It’s also not such a recognisable country. I mean, you look at what happened over the last period of time and it’s very different," he said.
"London is a very different place, with a terrible Mayor. You have a terrible Mayor there, some terrible people, but it’s a very different place".
Sir Keir said his Government "does not believe in regime change from the skies", in an apparent criticism and, in the Commons, stood by his decision not to get involved with America and Israel's initial wave of strikes on Iran.
He insisted any action by the UK "must always have a lawful basis and a viable thought-through plan".