Keir Starmer is not interested in acting as a mediator between the US and Denmark over Donald Trump’s demand to take control of Greenland, Downing Street said today.
The PM will risk infuriating the touchy new president by hosting the Danish PM for dinner at No10 tonight, as he tries to walk a fine line between two UK allies.
Sir Keir and Mette Frederiksen are due to cover issues including European security and migration during their talks this evening.
But the increasingly bitter clashes with the US over Greenland are almost certain to come up, after Ms Frederiksen’s ‘explosive’ 45-minute phone row with Mr Trump last month.
The president claims Greenland is critical to America’s national security and has refused to rule out using military force to take over the self-governing Arctic territory – which has been part of the Kingdom of Denmark since 1814.
Asked if Sir Keir Starmer was ‘keen to become an interlocutor’, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘No.’
Asked whether the UK would ‘stand in solidarity’ with Denmark if its territorial integrity were threatened, the spokesman said he would ‘not get into hypotheticals’ or ‘offer a running commentary on these issues’.
Mr Trump was said to have unleashed a ‘torrent of aggression’ on the call after the PM defiantly told him her country was ‘not for sale’.
He apparently threatened to impose tariffs on the Nato ally during the conversation, which happened five days before he resumed control of the White House.
Greenland is the shortest route from Europe to North America and seen as important for the US’s ballistic missile warning system.
The US already has a military base on the territory, and there have been suggestions that could be expanded as part of a compromise deal.
Downing Street has refused to be drawn over whether Britain would support the US or Denmark in a dispute over the territory.
The PM’s official spokesman said he was ‘not going to get into hypothetical situations’, although they added that the long-standing position on Denmark and Greenland is ‘well understood’.
Ms Frederiksen has called for a ‘collective and robust response’ within the EU should the president press ahead with his threats to take over the territory.
Sir Keir has insisted that Britain can work with both the new administration in Washington and its European partners without choosing between them.
Speaking ahead of a meeting with the EU’s 27 leaders in Brussels yesterday, he said it was not an ‘either-or’ decision to both keep Mr Trump onside and seek closer ties with the bloc.
The PM pushed his case for a post-Brexit ‘reset’ in relations over dinner.
The president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, hailed the UK as a ‘natural partner’ and said there was a new ‘positive energy’.
But there are fears Britain could find itself caught in the middle of a bitter battle, after the US president branded the EU’s behaviour ‘atrocious’ and vowed to impose tariffs on imports.
In contrast, Mr Trump hinted that the UK could escape levies – which he is openly using as a tool for wider policy aims – despite being ‘out of line’.
No10 said the PM trusted Mr Trump and pointed to ‘a really constructive early set of conversations’ between the two men.
‘We’ve got a fair and balanced trading relationship which benefits both sides of the Atlantic,’ Sir Keir’s spokesman said.
‘It’s worth around £300billion and we are each other’s single largest investors, with £1.2trillion invested in each other’s economies.’