PRIME Minister Sir Keir Starmer engaged in a “grotesque spectacle” on Armistice Day by trying to bolster Nato as US president-elect Donald Trump pushes to end the war in Ukraine, campaigners said today.
The Prime Minister and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed putting Ukraine in the “strongest possible position going into winter” as they held talks in Paris before commemorations marking the end of the first world war.
“Turning to the Middle East, both underscored their deep concern at the situation in Gaza and Lebanon,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.
Defence Secretary John Healey earlier said he believed Washington would remain “steadfast” in its backing for the military bloc after President-elect Trump insisted he would find a solution to end the Ukraine war “within a day” without explaining how he would do so.
Some have interpreted it to mean a peace on terms favourable to Moscow, as Mr Trump has also expressed scepticism towards Nato, accusing European countries of free-riding on the US.
A Stop the War Coalition spokesperson said: “Here we have the grotesque spectacle of a prime minister attending an Armistice Day service in France while happily arming a genocide in Gaza and supporting Netanyahu’s war crimes, and while his defence secretary beats the drum for keeping the war in Ukraine going with more and more military aid.
“One of the reasons Trump won the US election was the Democrats’ continued commitment to sending billions of dollars of aid to Zelensky, which is deeply unpopular, and because Trump positioned himself as the man who would bring peace.
“It is obvious the the war in Ukraine is heading for talks, and our government needs to get behind them, not try to prolong a horrendous conflict from which there can be no winners.”
While Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament general secretary Sophie Bolt warned that: “It is deeply shocking that the British government is still trying to get Biden to agree to Ukraine using their Storm Shadow missiles — which can strike deep into Russian territory. As Britain knows full well this is incredibly reckless: Russia has changed its nuclear use policy precisely to respond to such an attack.
“Starmer and Healey need to get the message that the world wants a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine war not a nuclear confrontation with Nato.”
Geoff Tibbs, from the anti-war Peace Pledge Union campaign group, said: “Remembrance Day should be a time to reflect on the futility of war and the need to commit to peace.
“Sadly Keir Starmer is misusing the occasion, on his trip to France, to bolster support for Nato and entrench the West’s confrontation with Russia.”
He said Western armaments “have done nothing” to deter Putin's aggression and that Britain was complicit in war crimes in Gaza through its military support and arms sales to Israel, adding: “The hypocrisy on display on Remembrance Day only detaches it further from its vital message, ‘never again’.”
