American-British political relations are under great strain as King Charles’ visit approaches
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British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves was unrelenting in her criticism of the Iran war as “foolish,” as she prepared to meet Treasury Secretary Scott Besent and other US officials in Washington on Wednesday.
Like Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, Reeves is among economic officials gathering around the world as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank hold their spring meetings in the US capital.
While British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been praised elsewhere for his handling of US President Donald Trump over the past 16 months, he and Reeves this past week went public with their frustrations with the White House, as King Charles will be visiting the US in less than two weeks, at the behest of Starmer’s Labor government.
Trump and members of his administration have been more than happy in recent days to share their views on the British government’s domestic and foreign policy.
Reeves, whose official title is chancellor of the Exchequer, commented on the “absurdity” as part of an interview with the Mirror published on Tuesday. He linked to an article in the newspaper earlier on Wednesday, in which he said that every day the British people feel the pain of a war not chosen by their government.
“This is a war we didn’t start. It was a war we didn’t want,” Reeves told the Mirror. “I feel frustrated and angry that the US went into this war without a clear plan to get out, without a clear sense of what they were trying to achieve.”
Among the G7 countries, the IMF on Tuesday predicted that the British economy will probably be affected the most, in no small part because of the US-Israeli war with Iran, which initially doubled the price of natural gas on which Britain depends.
The IMF lowered Britain’s growth forecast for 2026 to 0.8 percent, from an earlier estimate of 1.3 percent, and said it expected Britain’s unemployment rate to rise to 5.6 percent this year, from 4.9 percent in 2025.
Reeves is concerned about Starmer’s own comments in an interview with Britain’s ITV last weekend, in which he said he was “fed up that families across the country are seeing their bills go up and down … because of the actions of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin or Trump for the rest of the world. “
‘Great folly’
Another irritant for Starmer and his government is Trump’s view of the Labor government’s plan to cede sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The US and the UK share a military base on one of the islands, Diego Garcia, a base that was supposed to remain under British control even by treaty.
After telling Starmer in the Oval Office last year that “we will be inclined to go along with your country” on the deal, this year Trump called it “an act of utter stupidity.” Starmer’s Minister of State Stephen Doughty told Parliament this week that a deal was now “unlikely” to happen under the current circumstances.
Bessent, meanwhile, told the BBC that “a little economic pain” is the right price given Iran’s security threat, pointing out that Tehran “has intercontinental ballistic missiles that can reach London.”
Iran fired two missiles at a US-UK military base on Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean, on Friday – an attack that failed. Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Saturday that Iran was “invading” the region and occupying the Strait of Hormuz.
Britain was controversially part of the US war in Iraq in 2003, and Trump is angry that he did not receive the same support as the US launched its attack on Iran. European NATO members have highlighted that alliance members did not receive advance notice of American plans, and Starmer allowed US forces to use British military bases for defensive purposes resulting from the war.
Trump and US Vice President Vance have also criticized Britain’s energy policies, although Vance’s recent statement that British customers pay more for energy than Americans has been described as inaccurate. Trump’s comments that more British drilling in the North Sea will help its power position are seen as controversial.
‘A dangerous and corrupt gangster’
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said in Parliament this week that under the circumstances, the British government should cancel the King’s visit to the US.
“I’m really afraid of what Trump might say or do while our King is forced to stand by him. We can’t put His Majesty in that position,” Davey said, calling Trump a “dangerous and corrupt gang.”
Starmer responded to Davey by saying “the monarchy, through constructive engagements, can often reach decades in a situation like this.”
The timing of the four-day royal visit to the US from April 27 came under criticism from the British media when it was announced last month, because the exchange of missiles and drones between the US and Israel on the one hand, and Iran targeting Israel and the Gulf countries on the other hand, were at a fever pitch.
Trump offered further criticism of Starmer in comments to Britain’s Sky News published on Wednesday. The president also suggested that he “didn’t realize” that the King’s visit was not initiated by Buckingham Palace itself but rather by 10 Downing Street.
President Donald Trump has announced that the United States will use its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for Iran’s de facto blockade, which is now in its seventh week. But, as Andrew Chang explains, responding in this way to Iran’s control of 20 percent of the world’s energy supply could cause several risks as the conflict in the Middle East escalates. Photos provided by The Canadian Press, Reuters, Adobe Stock and Getty Images
Trump told Sky he could separate his warm feelings for King Charles from any political differences with Starmer’s government.
But there’s still a lot to come between now and April 27 – Trump declared a two-week ceasefire by then, and Starmer on Friday held an international meeting to address the bottleneck in the Strait of Hormuz, a result of the US war on Iran that affects the supply of oil, fertilizer and other resources around the world.
Like the war itself, Britain has insisted it will not take part in the US blockade of Iranian ports announced by Trump in recent days.
