Starmer defies Trump over Greenland after US president threatens Nato ally

Sir Keir Starmer has defied Donald Trump over the US president’s expansionist plans to snatch Greenland from Denmark, publicly backing the Danish prime minister after she demanded that the US stop threatening to take over the territory.

Sir Keir made the unusual decision to stand against Mr Trump after the president dramatically threatened to annex Greenland. But the prime minister has refused to condemn the decision to remove Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro over the weekend, despite warnings from legal experts that his capture on Saturday was a breach of international law.

Jonathan Sumption, a former justice of the UK Supreme Court, described the move as “plainly illegal”, while former attorney general Dominic Grieve said: “We’re living with a completely maverick and amoral US president who is a serious and significant danger to world peace.”

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The prime minister, speaking to reporters on Monday, said that his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen was “right” to dispute the US president’s asserted claim to Greenland, and stated that he “stands with” Denmark on the issue.

Sir Keir’s signal of solidarity with Nato ally Denmark comes after Mr Trump suggested over the weekend that Venezuelamay not be the last country to be subject to American intervention, after the US military carried out a series of airstrikes on Caracas, the Venezuelan capital. He has also previously made territorial claims about another Nato ally, Canada.

Hinting at his expansionist agenda following the operation in Venezuela, Mr Trump told the magazine The Atlantic: “We do need Greenland, absolutely.”

President Trump has been making territorial claims in relation to Greenland since January 2025, and in February last year, Sir Keir gave Denmark his support in opposing the US demands.

Katie Miller, the wife of one of Mr Trump’s senior aides, Stephen Miller, posted a picture on social media of Greenland in the colours of the American flag, alongside the word “soon”, following the Venezuela operation.

The Danish leader hit back, writing in a statement that “the US has no right to annex any of the three nations in the Danish kingdom”, of which Greenland is one.

Asked during a visit to a community centre in Berkshire about Ms Frederiksen’s strong language, Sir Keir told Sky News: “Well, I stand with her, and she’s right about the future of Greenland.”

While it is understood that Sir Keir has not yet spoken to Mr Trump about the weekend’s events, the UK’s position has been outlined by foreign secretary Yvette Cooper in a call to US secretary of state Marco Rubio, which took place on Sunday evening.

The prime minister’s official spokesperson did not deny reports in The Times that the UK plans to abstain from a UN Security Council resolution condemning the US’s actions in Venezuela.

Elsewhere, the prime minister was asked by the BBC if he agreed with calls from Denmark for the US president to stop proposing US annexation of the island.

“Yes,” Sir Keir replied, adding: “Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark are to decide the future of Greenland, and only Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark.

“Denmark is a close ally in Europe, it is a Nato ally, and it’s very important [that] the future of Greenland is, as I say, for the Kingdom of Denmark, and for Greenland, and only for Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark.”

The Labour government has been forging closer ties with Denmark in recent months, and has been taking advice from Ms Frederiksen’s government, which is of a similar political tradition, on how to curb illegal migration.

Former attorney general Mr Grieve argued that there was “no legal basis” for the US operation in Venezuela, and warned that the renewed claims about Greenland show that Mr Trump is subject to “fantasies about the United States’ right to intervene anywhere within the western hemisphere”.

“One can see how he thinks [he] could get away with seizing Greenland,” Mr Grieve told The Independent. “We’re living with a completely maverick and amoral US president who is a serious and significant danger to world peace.”

Former justice of the Supreme Court Lord Sumption agreed that the operation to remove Mr Maduro did not accord with international law. He told The Independent: “The attack on Venezuela was plainly illegal. The contrary position is not seriously arguable.”

However, the prime minister maintained his refusal to condemn President Trump over the US action in Venezuela, despite growing unease from Labour MPs and opposition parties including the Greens and the Liberal Democrats.

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Labour’s former shadow attorney general Dame Emily Thornberry became the most senior Labour figure to denounce the US action, piling pressure on Sir Keir to disown Mr Trump’s conduct and stating that “it must be called out”.

Dame Emily, who is chair of the Commons foreign affairs select committee, warned: “You can’t walk into a smaller country and take its resources, tell its leadership what to do, or throw the leaders in jail. There are rules. These came out of the chaos, suffering and bloodshed of the Second World War.

“Might must not be right. Just because larger countries can walk into smaller ones doesn’t mean they are allowed to.”

But speaking to reporters, the prime minister said: “What’s happened here in Venezuela is obviously really important. We have long championed a peaceful transition to democracy, because the president was illegitimate.”

Jarrow and Gateshead East MP Kate Osborne told The Independent: “Trump's actions to impose control over Venezuela, are nothing to do with democracy or protecting human rights, they are entirely about seizing Venezuela’s resources and the world’s largest oil reserves.

“It is a shameless attack and openly flouts international law. Trump’s actions should be condemned, it is a flagrant disregard for international law and human rights.”

Sir Keir also said that international law needed to be the “anchor” for the future of Venezuela following the removal of Mr Maduro. He added that the US will “want to justify” its actions in respect of international law.

But when asked directly, the PM would not be drawn on whether he believed the US had breached international law.

He told reporters: “International law is really important. It’s the framework, and it’s for the US to set out its justifications for the actions that it’s taken. But it is a complicated situation. It remains a complicated situation. The most important thing is stability, and that peaceful transition to democracy.”

Sir Keir added: “I think the vast majority of Labour MPs would say that they want to see democracy in Venezuela. That is hugely important.”