Trump shows Starmer who’s boss: US President tells PM to get a grip and use military to stop the boats – while taking swipe at Labour’s beloved wind farms… as MAGA leader claims he ‘doesn’t know Mandelson’

Donald Trump told Keir Starmer to call in the military to stop the boats – or risk Britain being ‘destroyed from within’ by illegal immigration.

The US President, whose harsh border controls have slashed illegal migration to near zero, said the UK was now facing a ‘very similar’ problem in the Channel and had to take much tougher action.

At a joint press conference with the Prime Minister at Chequers, Mr Trump hailed the ‘incredible bond’ between Britain and the US – and spoke at length about his love for ‘these beautiful isles’.

But he warned that Britain cannot afford to carry with its softly-softly approach to the Channel crisis and disagreed with his host’s stance on a number of issues.

Mr Trump said huge numbers of foreign criminals, gangsters and mental patients had been entering the US illegally until he took drastic action, including deporting some to hellhole jails in El Salvador.

The President, whose mother was born in Scotland, added: ‘I think your situation is very similar. You have people coming in and I told the Prime Minister I would stop it, and it doesn’t matter if you call out the military, it doesn’t matter what means you use.

‘It destroys countries from within.’

Sir Keir insisted that Labour was taking the Channel crisis seriously. He said there was no ‘silver bullet’ but trumpeted the fact the first migrant was finally sent back to France on Thursday under a new ‘one in, one out’ deal following more than 30,000 arrivals this year.

But he also faced barbs from Mr Trump over Gaza, Net Zero and North Sea oil.

During a 45-minute press conference at the PM’s country retreat:

• Mr Trump told Sir Keir to scale back Labour’s controversial Net Zero target and ‘drill, baby, drill’. 
• The President dismissed the UK’s focus on wind farms as ‘a disaster’ and a ‘very expensive joke’.
• Sir Keir squirmed when asked about Lord Mandelson, while the US President denied ever knowing the disgraced former US ambassador, despite welcoming him into the White House just nine days earlier.
• Mr Trump publicly criticised Sir Keir’s impending decision to recognise a Palestine state, suggesting it would not help release Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
• He also said Vladimir Putin had ‘really let me down’ as he hinted at fresh sanctions to force the Russian tyrant to the negotiating table.
• The two leaders signed a technology deal which will bring £150 billion investment to the UK – but gave no details of the concessions Britain has offered in return.
• Mr Trump revealed the US is trying to take the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan to bring Chinese nuclear facilities within bombing range.

Thursday’s press conference in the historic Great Hall at Chequers came at the end of a two-day state visit that saw Mr Trump lavished with pomp and ceremony, including a glittering state dinner at Windsor Castle.

On Thursday, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch shared a selfie picture of herself and the President at the grand event.

Downing Street had been fretting for days that the event would be overshadowed by the controversy over Sir Keir’s decision to sack Lord Mandelson over his friendship with notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

With President Trump also facing questions back home about his own past links to Epstein, the issue had the potential to create a diplomatic disaster.

When the issue of Lord Mandelson was raised, in the last question of the press conference, both men appeared desperate to move on as quickly as possible.

The President outlandishly claimed: ‘I don’t know him actually. ‘I had heard that,’ he added, ‘and I think maybe the Prime Minister would be better speaking of that. It was a choice that he made and I don’t know.’

Speaking directly to Sir Keir, Mr Trump said: ‘What is your answer to that?

The PM replied: ‘It’s very straightforward. Some information came to light last week which wasn’t available when he was appointed, and I made a decision about it, and that’s very clear.’

The political centrepiece of the trip was a new technology deal that will see US firms pour billions of pounds into building up the UK’s AI infrastructure.

But Mr Trump echoed industry warnings that Labour’s obsession with Net Zero could leave the UK unable to meet the sector’s huge energy needs.

He said the deal would ensure the UK has a ‘secure and reliable supplier with the best AI hardware and software in the world’. But he warned the UK’s energy supplies may have to ‘double’ to cope – and questioned whether renewable energy could meet the demand.

‘We don’t do wind because wind is a disaster,’ the president said. ‘It’s a very expensive joke, frankly.’

Urging Sir Keir to follow his lead and ‘drill, baby, drill,’ he said the North Sea was a ‘phenomenal asset’, urging the PM ‘you have got to start using [it].’

The PM, who said he wanted to bring down energy bills, insisted that the UK would continue to use oil and gas ‘for many years to come’. But he added: ‘We also need to mix that with renewables.’

Mr Trump appeared anxious to avoid controversy after becoming the first US President to be granted the honour of a second state visit.

But he made plain his disapproval of Sir Keir’s plan to formally recognise Palestine, saying the focus should be on pressuring Hamas to release the remaining hostages seized in the October 7 attacks.

‘I have a disagreement with the Prime Minister on that score,’ he said bluntly.

Sir Keir, who is expected to recognise Palestine in the coming days, insisted that the move was part of a ‘process’ that could eventually lead to a two-state solution. 

He insisted that the move was not a reward for Hamas and said the terror group could have no role in running an independent Palestinian state.

The two leaders spent an hour in one-to-one talks at Chequers on Thursday, with a focus on Ukraine and the Middle East.

In comments that will cheer No 10, President Trump underlined his irritation at Putin for failing to engage with a serious peace process, saying he felt ‘let down’.

Mr Trump also piled pressure on European countries, such as Hungary and Slovakia, to stop buying Russian oil and gas.

‘I’m willing to do other things but not when the people I’m fighting for are buying oil from Russia,’ he said. ‘If the oil price comes down, very simply, Russia will settle.’

Predicting the end of the conflict, he said: ‘That’s a war that could have been a third world war, and I don’t think we’re going to be there now.’

Sir Keir acknowledged that some European states have still failed to stop buying Russian oil and gas more than two years after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

‘There are one or two countries, I think, that do need to look again at the question of energy,’ he said.

In the run up to this week’s visit, ministers had pushed the White House to make good on a ‘deal’ in May which Sir Keir had said would cut tariffs on British steel exports to zero. 

Following US resistance this was scaled back this week to a request that tariffs should not go above 25 per cent – half the rate levied on other countries.

But No 10 was unable to say last night whether even this more modest deal had actually been agreed.