Starmer's final bow on the world stage… as he heads for a kicking from Trump at NATO summit

By JAMES TAPSFIELD, UK POLITICAL EDITOR and JASON GROVES, POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 08:13, 7 July 2026 | Updated: 08:29, 7 July 2026 Keir Starmer is taking his final bow on the world stage today - and it could involve another kicking from Donald Trump. The ousted PM is heading for the Nato summit in Turkey with less than a fortnight until he hands over to Andy Burnham. But Sir Keir will be bracing for a backlash over his shambolic defence investment plan. After months of Whitehall wrangling and the resignation of Defence Secretary John Healey, the £15billion extra over five years turned out to be largely unfunded - and gave no timetable for 3 per cent of GDP going on the military.  The US president has pushed the alliance into agreeing an even higher 3.5 per cent target, and is widely expected to make his displeasure clear at the gathering of leaders. He has already repeatedly clashed with Sir Keir, branding him 'no Churchill' for refusing to join the chaotic Iran war. Keir Starmer is taking his final bow on the world stage today - and it could involve another kicking from Donald Trump Mr Trump has pushed Nato into agreeing a 3.5 per cent target for defence spending, and is widely expected to make his displeasure clear at the gathering of leaders The PM has only committed to an 'ambition' of defence spending reaching 3 per cent of GDP in the 2030s Mr Trump reportedly called Nigel Farage to congratulate him when Sir Keir was forced to announce his resignation last month. Despite it being Sir Keir's final outing on the world stage, the two men are not due to meet one-on-one.  The PM will tell Nato allies that the DIP represents a major step on the way to hitting Nato's target of spending 3.5 per cent on defence by 2035. But it only commits the UK to reaching 2.7 per cent by the end of the decade. New Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis said Labour would 'commit the resources to evidence the trajectory to 3.5 per cent' at a spending review next year. But neither No10 nor Mr Burnham have so far agreed to the timetable. Nato chief Mark Rutte said he expected member states to produce 'clear, concrete and credible' plans to hit the 3.5 per cent target. Speaking at the weekend, Mr Trump said 'weak' British leaders had allowed the country to become a 'deindustrialised welfare zone unable to stop Third World men arriving on boats'. Downing Street said Sir Keir and Mr Trump will be seated next to each other at a meeting tomorrow and insisted that their relationship remains 'constructive'. Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch is warning that Britain's defence policy is becoming a 'pantomime' at the moment threats are at their most serious since the end of the Cold War. In a speech this morning, Mrs Badenoch will urge Mr Burnham to take up her offer to help push through welfare cuts to help fund defence investment.  But she will warn that the would-be prime minister has 'said nothing' about the growing threats facing the UK. 'We are sending an outgoing Prime Minister who is now completely powerless to that Nato summit,' she will say. 'And he is taking with him a Defence Investment Plan which he knows is not fit for purpose. With barely half of the additional funding that our armed forces need.' Ahead of the summit, Putin sent a clear message to defence chiefs over Russia's willingness to threaten its member states, including Britain. It has emerged a Russian aircraft conducted a 'danger close' low pass of the HMS Prince of Wales while the £3.5billion carrier was operating in the Norwegian Sea. After ignoring requests from the carrier's control room, the Bear-F maritime patrol aircraft then dropped tens of sonobuoy projectiles in close proximity to HMS Prince of Wales which could have injured sailors or damaged the carrier. Confrontation: An F-35 jet launched from HMS Prince of Wales shadows a Russian military aircraft as it drops a sonic device, inset Experts have warned that Vladimir Putin is testing the resolve of the UK British commanders scrambled two F-35 jets from HMS Prince of Wales to shadow the Russian aircraft in the carrier's first 'real-time' engagement with enemy forces. The Royal Navy has released information about the July 2nd incident for the first time. At the time HMS Prince of Wales was sailing as part of the UK's Carrier Strike Group which also consisted of the Type-45 destroyer HMS Duncan, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Tidespring which were conducting freedom of navigation patrols in the High North. The Arctic Sentry patrols are intended to reinforce security. The engagement came just weeks after the UK seized a Russian shadow fleet vessel in the English Channel for the first time and after a Russian fighter jet flew within feet of a Royal Air Force intelligence gathering aircraft conducting a patrol over the Black Sea.