Brave Sir Keir Runs Away from the Battle

LONDON – Almost exactly 50 years ago, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” hit cinemas – a mercilessly sarcastic parody of Britain’s national myth: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

Among its characters was the unforgettable Brave Sir Robin – a knight who galloped into battle boasting of his fearlessness, but fled every time danger became too real.

The film grossed more in the United States than any other British film that year, cementing comedy as one of Britain’s main cultural exports, which remains popular to this day.

Therefore, there is no better way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of “The Holy Grail” than for the British Prime Minister to export himself to Washington to stage a farce even the Pythons would be proud of.

Brave Sir Keir, principled and just – who sometimes sits at his own EU Round Table – hastened to Donald Trump’s White House.

Starmer had been praised for his courage on Ukraine in recent weeks. He became the first European leader to commit troops to a peacekeeping mission. This week, he announced that the UK’s defense spending would rise from 2.3% to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 – a move the US Defense Secretary called “a strong step.”

At a reception at the British embassy on Wednesday evening, video showed a confident Starmer. He even joked about the many similarities between Trump and London’s new ambassador, Peter Mandelson – similarities that seem to extend well beyond their mutual love of New York financiers.

So, Europe had high hopes that Starmer, who spent five years as Britain’s chief prosecutor, could bring at least a shred of sanity to Trump – a criminal and pathological liar whom Starmer had dealt with countless times in court.

And yet, in the Oval Office on Thursday, Brave Sir Keir, like Sir Robin, made a “brave retreat.”

Those who saw Starmer thank Trump for “changing the conversation” on Ukraine witnessed a capitulation. Happy to contradict Trump safely from London, he suddenly became compliant in the face of reality, realizing he came to this fight with a stick, while Trump held a sword.

As it turned out, it was sheer folly to try to confront Trump armed only with a nominal “increase” in defense spending, likely to be eroded by lack of real economic growth, the mounting impacts of Brexit, or both.

Not only because Britain’s defense spending commitments are statistically insignificant to the US, but because Trump wouldn’t recognize statistical significance if it strutted past him in a bikini at Mar-a-Lago’s poolside.

Yes, Europe must spend more on defense. But presenting every increase as “progress” toward Trump’s chaotic and arbitrary demands is a ridiculous strategy.

This should have been clear to all European leaders for months. Even Mark Rutte, before Trump’s inauguration, said NATO spending should double to 4%. In response, the “great negotiator” raised the stakes: “Hell, make it 5%!” Ursula von der Leyen got a similar response when she shortsightedly suggested the EU could buy more American LNG to avoid tariffs.

Trump’s negotiation “strategy,” if it exists at all, is neither “America First” nor even “making money.” It’s about endlessly raising the stakes. This means he must be challenged, not appeased.

Only Emmanuel Macron – who, despite being politically battered at home, continues to fight on the international stage and now resembles the Black Knight from The Holy Grail, missing limbs but still shouting “It’s just a flesh wound!” – seems to understand this.

On Monday, Macron openly called Trump’s claim that aid to Ukraine is a “loan” from Europe nonsense.

Brave Sir Keir, sitting in the same chair, instead handed Trump an invitation from the King for a state visit.

Let’s be honest: the truly brave move for Starmer would have been to challenge Trump face-to-face over his denial of Russian responsibility for the war, so that future peace talks would at least happen in reality.

Starmer may claim that his choice not to do so spared Britain from tariff threats. But there are two far more plausible reasons: