Donald Trump congratulates Nigel Farage, snubs Keir Starmer

UK News

Donald Trump congratulated his old friend Nigel Farage this morning on a good night for the UK reform movement, while completely ignoring the man who just led Labour to a landslide victory.

Trump took to his Truth Social platform in the early hours of this morning to wish Farage well.

“Congratulations to Nigel Farage on his big win for Parliament amid successful reform elections in the UK,” wrote the former and possibly future US president. “Nigel is a man who truly loves his country! DJT.”

Trump and Farage have been long-time allies and Farage had initially planned to spend much of this year in the US helping the Republican candidate’s campaign, before suddenly changing his mind and leading the Reform Party in the UK and running for parliament. In the early hours of this morning, at his eighth attempt, he easily won the seaside seat of Clacton, one of four new Reform MPs elected on a night that saw the fledgling party take a big chunk of the Conservative vote. Farage took the opportunity to say that Reform would “build a mass national movement over the next few years”.

Notably absent from Trump’s address was new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who failed to mention his full name.

If Trump wins later this year, the two will need to forge a relationship. In public, Starmer and his foreign secretary-elect, David Lammy, have softened their stance on Trump noticeably in recent months as they prepare for government. Lammy recently used a set piece to say that Trump is “often misunderstood” about his commitment to NATO peace.