FAKE POSTS HAVE spread widely online that appear to show British Prime Minister Keir Starmer giving the US 48 hours to remove its forces from UK bases if the US withdraws from NATO.

“As Prime Minister, I will always be clear with our allies & our critics alike,” the hoax post begins.

“If President Trump intends to end America’s commitment to NATO, I would expect the rapid withdrawal of US forces from British bases within 48 hours,” the post states, before saying that the UK would “expect a full and final settlement of historic rent by the end of the week”.

One screenshot of this fake post has been viewed more than 1.2 million times on X, and has been reshared more than a dozen times on Facebook, as well as other posts on Instagram, Threads and Reddit.

The fake post appears to have been made on 18 March, after Trump made angry comments about other NATO members refusing to join in the war he launched against Iran.

The fake comments also come after fraying relations between Starmer and Trump, including an incident on St Patrick’s Day in which the Taoiseach Micheál Martin defended Starmer as “sound” in a meeting with Trump in the Oval Office.

Trump has repeatedly hinted he is considering taking the US out of NATO.

Nevertheless, the post supposedly showing Keir Starmer threatening to kick US forces from UK bases is fake.

There is no evidence of the post on Starmer’s social media accounts, nor any credible news reports on what would have been a major shift in the UK’s stance.

The origin of the fake tweet appears to be a Threads post by an account called political.satirical, who later called the post a “spoof”.

As of the time of writing, Starmer’s office has not replied to requests for comment. 

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