Trump may not care about Labour's Nato ambitions

Keir Starmer’s pledge on defence spending struck the right note with alliance members but the shadow of the once and possibly future president looms large

- Kim Sengupta

“Sunak pledge now comes with the Starmer guarantee of delivery” is how new defence secretary John Healey describes the key deal at this summit, painting Britain as the leading European nation in Nato as questions are raised about future US support for the alliance.

Donald Trump’s brooding presence looms over Nato’s 75th anniversary meeting in Washington, with his possible return to the White House pointing to probabilities ranging from negotiating a peace deal with Vladimir Putin to renewed demands that other member states cough up more money for defence.

Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s communications director, stressed to visiting leaders that the former president has “repeatedly stated that a top priority in his second term will be to quickly negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war”. Trump believes that European nations “should be paying more of the cost of the conflict, as the US has paid significantly more, which is not fair to our taxpayers”, Cheung said.

Healey acknowledges Trump’s tough stance, but points out that, whoever is elected to the White House, Britain must “recognise that the American priorities are likely to shift increasingly to the Indo-Pacific and to other parts of the globe”.