Prime minister surprisingly forceful at PMQs over US president’s volte face on Chagos and refusal to drop tariffs threat on Greenland

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For a man who chooses his words so carefully, there is no doubt that Keir Starmer’s shift in tone towards Donald Trump at prime minister’s questions was intentional.

Since the turn of the year, as the US president has shown his imperialist ambition, the prime minister’s softly-softly approach to his unpredictable friend in the White House has come under increased strain.

Prime minister puts faith in ‘pragmatic’ solutions, while US president drops one diplomatic bomb after another

In his account of Tony Blair’s years in power, The New Machiavelli, Jonathan Powell sets out two opposing strategies for any British prime minister in dealing with their counterpart in the White House.

The first, he says, is “cutting a bella figura” – parading for show – by openly criticising the US president, for which he gives the example of the French. The other, and the approach preferred by Powell, is to do diplomacy in private and build a close relationship, in the hope of having greater influence.

PM’s spokesperson insists government’s position is unchanged and that the US still supports the deal

The UK will press ahead with plans to hand the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius despite Donald Trump calling it an “act of great stupidity” and suggesting it was among the reasons he wants to take over Greenland.

The US president said ceding sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory, which includes the Diego Garcia military base, was a sign of “total weakness” by the UK.

US president says there is ‘no going back’ on goal of controlling Arctic territory as Emmanuel Macron leads European resistance

European leaders have lined up to condemn Donald Trump’s “new colonialism” and warn that the continent was facing a crossroads as the US president said there was no going back on his goal of controlling Greenland.

After weeks of aggressive threats by Trump to seize the vast Arctic island, which is a largely autonomous part of Denmark, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said on Tuesday he preferred “respect to bullies” and the “rule of law to brutality”.