{"id":22094,"date":"2026-01-19T15:22:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T15:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/?p=22094"},"modified":"2026-01-19T15:22:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T15:22:05","slug":"starmer-speech-on-greenland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/2026\/01\/starmer-speech-on-greenland\/","title":{"rendered":"What we learned from Keir Starmer\u2019s speech on Greenland and UK-US Relations of the world order"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the weekend President Trump threatened to introduce 10% tariffs on seven European allies, including the UK, from the\u00a01<\/span>st<\/span>\u00a0February until the\u00a0United States\u00a0acquired\u00a0control of Greenland. The announcement sent Europe into crisis mode, with leaders scrambling to reaffirm their commitment to Greenland, while seeking a swift solution to growing tensions with the United States.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So where does the UK\u00a0stand?\u00a0Prime\u00a0Minister Keir\u00a0Starmer set\u00a0out\u00a0the UK\u2019s position\u00a0directly\u00a0to the\u00a0nation with a speech\u00a0from Downing Street.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Starmer reaffirmed his commitment to the United States-UK relationship, albeit in more transactional terms\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was no Love Actually moment for the Prime Minister. In contrast to some of the strong rhetoric from European allies, not least French President Emmanuel Marcon, Prime Minister Keir Starmer utilised the opportunity to reaffirm the importance of the UK-US relationship. He began his speech\u00a0stating\u00a0that the relationship \u201cmatters profoundly – not just to our security, but to the prosperity and the stability that people here at home depend on.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u00a0spoke of the economic benefits of partnership,\u00a0American investment in the UK, and trade terms on key UK industries like cars,\u00a0steel\u00a0and aerospace. However, it was the defence, security, nuclear and intelligence ties the Prime Minister kept going back to, reflecting the\u00a0real challenge\u00a0the UK faces \u2013 its security ties with the United States are so deep, it makes distancing itself from the United States\u00a0very difficult.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Prime Minister went to lengths to justify this position, of continued constructive relations, and couched this in the transactional language that has been a hallmark of the Trump Presidency. There were no appeals to the \u201cspecial relationship\u201d or historic ties and friendship with the United States. Instead, Starmer set out in clear terms what the benefits of the relationship are, and why they\u00a0remain\u00a0important to\u00a0maintain.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Starmer also set out a rebuke to the President, and a defence of Greenland and European Allies\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was not, however, a case of the UK folding in the face of blackmail from Washington. Starmer was unequivocal in his stance,\u00a0stating\u00a0that the future of Greenland \u201cbelongs to the people of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark alone\u201d.\u00a0He consistently called the President\u2019s use of tariffs as a pressure mechanism \u201ctotally wrong\u201d,\u00a0in one of the strongest rebukes\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0seen from the UK of President Trump\u2019s actions. Even when it has come to disagreements over Ukraine, Prime Minister Starmer has been careful not to outright condemn President Trump\u2019s actions, and this forthright critique therefore marks a notable shift in the UK\u2019s willingness to stand up to President Trump.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite\u00a0criticising\u00a0President\u00a0Trump\u2019s\u00a0actions,\u00a0the\u00a0Prime Minister\u00a0was\u00a0clear that a\u00a0solution\u00a0must be\u00a0found through\u00a0dialogue.\u00a0Starmer\u00a0finds is\u00a0himself having\u00a0to\u00a0carefully\u00a0find a middle ground between the\u00a0United States\u00a0and\u00a0Europe\u00a0where increasingly strong rhetoric between the\u00a0two\u00a0sides\u00a0risks\u00a0bubbling over into a trade war.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Starmer\u00a0is\u00a0attempting\u00a0to stress the importance of international issues to his domestic agenda\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amid reports over the past few months of discontent within the Labour ranks over the Prime Minister\u2019s frequent trips abroad,\u00a0Prime Minister\u00a0Keir\u00a0Starmer\u00a0used the speech to try and draw clear links between his work on the international stage and his domestic agenda.\u00a0This was a pitch, both to the public and his own party on why geopolitics matters to ordinary people un the UK.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He pointed to the ways in which international instability affected peoples\u2019\u00a0lives, highlighting\u00a0how wars drive up energy costs, supply chain fractures damage small businesses and working people, and how instability most often affects working people the most. In this he is clearly trying to make the case that his work on the global stage is another side of the same coin to his commitments to deliver growth and reduce costs.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is an essential link that the government must make\u00a0in order to\u00a0get political buy-in for the proposed increases to defence spending over the next few years. As\u00a0BFPG found last year, most Britons are not willing to accept cuts to other kinds of spending to fund defence increases. If the Government wants to deliver on 3.5% defence spending by 2035 then this link between the domestic and international will need to be made\u00a0time and again.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are no clear answers to this crisis\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

You might be forgiven for thinking this speech was a lot of words to say not all that much. The Prime Minister criticised President Trump but also went to great lengths to stress the importance of the UK-US relationship. He spoke in much softer terms than President\u00a0Macron, and\u00a0has made no clear commitments on what the UK will do next, if Trump does impose the planned tariffs or indeed attacked Greenland.\u00a0Instead,\u00a0he simply reaffirmed his commitment to keeping dialogue open, defending international law, and working with allies.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But in truth the Prime Minister\u2019s room for manoeuvre is limited.\u00a0Perhaps the\u00a0most important part of Starmer\u2019s speech was his repeated focus on pragmatism. The UK is not in an easy position. Our economy\u00a0remains\u00a0deeply tied to the United States, and\u00a0our defence and national security is\u00a0critically\u00a0reliant on collaboration\u00a0with the\u00a0United\u00a0States.\u00a0The\u00a0United States\u00a0also\u00a0remains\u00a0integral to the UK\u2019s foreign policy priorities, not least in finding an end to the conflict in Ukraine and ensuring that the ceasefire in Gaza holds in the long term.\u00a0Greenland is\u00a0critically\u00a0important\u00a0but so\u00a0too\u00a0is\u00a0American\u00a0support\u00a0on these other\u00a0conflicts\u00a0and\u00a0global\u00a0challenges.\u00a0For\u00a0Starmer\u00a0then,\u00a0it is\u00a0a very\u00a0difficult\u00a0balancing\u00a0act\u00a0\u2013 supporting\u00a0Greenland,\u00a0Europe\u00a0and\u00a0standing\u00a0up for\u00a0international law and\u00a0order,\u00a0while\u00a0not further\u00a0alienating a clearly\u00a0volatile\u00a0yet\u00a0critical\u00a0partner in the\u00a0United States.\u00a0For now,\u00a0at\u00a0least,\u00a0Starmer\u2019s\u00a0options are\u00a0limited.\u00a0Longer term\u00a0there\u00a0may\u00a0be\u00a0bigger\u00a0questions to\u00a0ask\u00a0about how\u00a0sustainable\u00a0the\u00a0proximity\u00a0of\u00a0the UK-US\u00a0relationship is.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BFPG summarises the key takeaways from Starmer’s statement on Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on the UK over Greenland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":21548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133,169],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-uk-perspectives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}