SIR KEIR STARMER has finally stood up to Donald Trump — but only by rejecting a demand from the incoming US administration that Shamima Begum be allowed to return to Britain.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy ruled out a return for Ms Begum, with the government’s desire to appease the racist right apparently trumping its usual subservience to Washington.

Sebastian Gorka, incoming counter-terrorism chief in the Trump team, is demanding that British members of Islamic State presently imprisoned in Syria be returned to Britain.

They include Ms Begum, who joined IS as a 15-year-old from east London, was married by the group to a fighter in Syria and subsequently had her British citizenship stripped by the Tory government.

Courts have dismissed her appeals against the decision, despite her age and the absence of any evidence that she would prove a threat should she return.

Mr Gorka raised the issue with the usual Trump-style menaces in an interview with the Times, telling the newspaper: “Any nation which wishes to be seen to be a serious ally and friend of the most powerful nation in the world should act in a fashion that reflects that serious commitment.

“That is doubly so for the UK, which has a very special place in President Trump’s heart and we would all wish to see the ‘special relationship’ fully re-established.”

However, Mr Lammy swiftly dismissed the suggestion. He said: “Shamima Begum will not be coming back to the UK. She’s not a UK national.

“We will not be bringing her back to the UK. We’re really clear about that. We will act in our security interests.”

Mr Lammy added that many of those in the camps holding former IS members were “dangerous radicals” who would have to be “jailed as soon as they arrived” back in Britain.

There are believed to be around 70 people from Britain held in camps in Syria run by the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Forty are children.

The US move follows the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria and the possibility of moves by the new Turkish-installed government against the largely-Kurdish SDF.

Human rights organisations have long condemned the vindictive and racist treatment of Ms Begum. Amnesty International earlier said that “banishing citizens is a punishment from the mediaeval era.

“Begum is British and was groomed and trafficked to Syria. The UK should be helping its citizens stranded in dangerous circumstances in Syria, not barring their safe return to the UK.”