Rory Stewart says Starmer and Trump have inflicted ‘unimaginable damage’ over foreign aid cuts

Labour prime minister and US president accused of harming international security and the climate. Rory Stewart has hit out at Keir Starmer’s decision to slash foreign aid spending to boost the defence budget, comparing the Labour prime minister to Donald Trump.

Sir Keir bowed to pressure from Donald Trump to boost defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP just hours before jetting to the White House for a crunch meeting with the US President. The PM defended the move, saying it was necessary to take on “tyrants” like Putin.

But former foreign office minister and Tory MP Mr Stewart warned that parallel decisions to reduce aid on both sides of the Atlantic would leave the UK and US jointly responsible for “unimaginable damage” to international security and the climate.

“The US and the UK were foundation stones of the international development system,” he said. “Now that Trump has stopped all USAid and Starmer has cut most of UKAid, the change will be almost unimaginable in global health and pandemic preparedness, famines, global education, refugees and migration, international security, global financial stability, climate action, and above all for hundreds of millions of the extreme poor worldwide.”.

The Conservatives also said the foreign aid cuts showed Sir Keir could not be trusted to stick to his own values, even as they backed the policy. “Once again it’s say one thing, do another under this Labour government. After being all too willing to point the finger in opposition, they’ve gone back on their own manifesto and even what Keir Starmer told Parliament a few short years ago,” a Conservative spokesperson said.

“So whilst their decision to redirect aid to boost defence is right - it just goes to show Labour are incapable of sticking to their own word.”. Sir Keir’s announcement came just 24 hours before the prime minister flew to Washington DC for his first meeting with the US president since last month’s inauguration.

It follows White House pressure on European allies in Nato to massively increase their own share of the cost of defence. The decision to slash foreign aid has been condemned by senior Labour figures, including former foreign secretary David Miliband and aid charities, who have accused Sir Keir of “abandoning the poorest in the world”.

Defending his decision, Sir Keir said it had been “three years in the making”, since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, and that this was “a generational moment”. Challenged on whether he had been bounced by Trump into the decision, Sir Keir said: “Well, this is a significant moment and that is why we’ve got to rise to this generational challenge.

“The last few weeks have accelerated my thinking on when we need to make this announcement, and I’ll be very clear about it because it is absolutely clear to me now that the decision that, as it were, started life three years ago, needs to be taken now.”.

Mr Trump has said he wants to “close” his government’s USAid agency and billions in aid money has been frozen since he came to power. Mr Stewart’s wife's charity has had $1m in USAID funding stopped, days after he had a bizarre clash with US vice president JD Vance.

Mr Stewart said his wife’s charity Turquoise Mountain, which helps communities in Afghanistan and other countries, has had the funding halted. Earlier this month Mr Vance took aim at the Rest is Politics presenter, accusing the former British politician of believing he has an IQ of 130 “when it is really 110”.

In response, Mr Stewart sarcastically praised Mr Vance’s ability “to measure others’ IQs so instantly and confidently”. The exchange began after Mr Vance claimed there was a Christian concept “that you love your family and then you love your neighbour, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that, prioritise the rest of the world.”.

Mr Stewart responded on X, describing the comments as a “bizarre take” on the Bible. He added that it was “less Christian and more pagan tribal. We should start worrying when politicians become theologians, assume to speak for Jesus, and tell us in which order to love…”.