UK prime minister denies fake claims over US forces and NATO policies
Keir Starmer did not demand US forces withdraw from UK bases, as a viral screenshot misrepresented his diplomatic stance amid NATO policies.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer emphasised the importance of the US-UK relationship, reiterating no changes to NATO cost-sharing policies amidst fake speech claims.
UK Ministry of Defence reaffirmed NATO’s policy that member states do not pay rent for stationing military personnel, emphasising operational cost coverage instead.
Briefing summary
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has responded to claims suggesting he demanded the withdrawal of US forces from British bases if President Donald Trump leaves NATO. The claims have been widely discredited.
Despite criticism from Trump regarding Starmer’s limited support in the Iran war, reports indicate Starmer has maintained a diplomatic stance, emphasising the significance of the US-UK relationship.
NATO’s cost-sharing policies have also been misrepresented, as NATO member states do not pay rent for stationing troops, covering only operational costs. This has been confirmed in various recent agreements.
Is the UK demanding decades of rent from the US if it leaves NATO?
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UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has told President Donald Trump to withdraw all US forces from British bases within 48 hours if he chooses to leave NATO, according to a widely shared screenshot which has been shared across social media in recent weeks.
He allegedly adds that the UK would demand decades of backdated rent from the US for stationing its troops on British territory for free.
There are several issues with this supposed speech which prove that it’s fake.
First, despite a recent barrage of insults that Trump has hurled at Starmer for giving limited support of the US in the Iran war, the prime minister’s response has been more measured than this text suggests.
Trump said on 17 March that he was “disappointed” with Starmer over his initial refusal to send aircraft carriers to the Middle East, accusing him of making a mistake and saying that he was “no Winston Churchill”, in reference to the UK’s famous wartime leader.
However, following the president’s tirade, all reputable reporting has stated that Starmer has stressed the importance of the US-UK relationship, assured the UK will stay out of the war apart from measures such as providing the US access to its bases near the region, and that London is working with all its allies to bring stability in the Middle East.
The tone and language used in the fake speech are highly uncharacteristic of Starmer’s usual diplomatic approach.
One of the main accounts sharing it has since deleted its post on X.
Do NATO countries pay each other rent?
The other issue with the text is that it misrepresents NATO’s common defence and cost-sharing policies.
Contrary to what the fake speech claims, the standard NATO policy is that the visiting country doesn’t pay rent to the host country when stationing military personnel there — instead, they cover the operational costs of the facilities they use.
So, as the UK Ministry of Defence wouldn’t pay rent to the UK government for its own bases and, for example, the US wouldn’t need to either.
It also says that member states waive claims against each other for any damage to property used for NATO purposes.
While the agreement is decades old, it’s been confirmed in recent treaties and documents across the alliance that NATO countries do not pay rent to station their military in fellow members.
For example, a parliamentary briefing published in the UK in March 2026 reinforced NATO’s cost-sharing arrangements; Poland and the US’s 2019 Enhanced defence cooperation Agreement underlined that Warsaw will provide the US military with facilities rent-free; and upon joining NATO in 2023, Finland signed its own Defence Cooperation Agreement with the US, which explicitly states it supplements the SOFA.