Starmer backs ‘democratically elected’ Zelenskyy after Trump ‘dictator’ jibe at Ukrainian leader

Published

9 months ago

February 20, 2025

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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has spoken with Volodymyr Zelenskyy to give the Ukrainian president his backing after Donald Trump called him a “dictator”.

A Downing Street spokesperson said Sir Keir called Mr Zelenskyy this evening and shared his support for him “as Ukraine’s democratically elected leader”.

The prime minister “said that it was perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during war time as the UK did during World War II”, the statement continued.

He also “reiterated his support for the US-led efforts to get a lasting peace in Ukraine that deterred Russia from any future aggression”.

Politics Live: Johnson responds to Trump’s ‘shock’ Ukraine claims

In a post on X about the call, Mr Zelenskyy said: “The United Kingdom’s role in fortifying Europe’s defense and security is important for us.”

The “UK’s support matters indeed, and we will never forget the respect the British people have shown for Ukraine and our citizens”, he added.

The call was held after Mr Trump took aim at the Ukrainian president in a post on his Truth Social platform.

It is likely the war of words will come up again when Sir Keir meets Mr Trump in Washington next week, to discuss security and Ukraine.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who had been under pressure to condemn Mr Trump’s attacks, earlier said Mr Zelenskyy “is not a dictator. He is the democratically elected leader of Ukraine who bravely stood up to Putin’s illegal invasion”.

However, she said that Mr Trump “is right that Europe needs to pull its weight – and that includes the UK”.

She added: “We need to get serious. The PM will have my support to increase defence spending – there is a fully funded plan to get to 2.5% sitting on his desk.

“That should be the bare minimum. Starmer should get on with it, get on a plane to Washington and show some leadership. We cannot afford to get this wrong.”

Labour has pledged to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, from about 2.3% now, but there is no timeline as to when. This week Ms Badenoch admitted the Tories tried to increase the funding to 3% while they were in office but there “wasn’t enough money to do so”.

It comes against the backdrop of a war of words between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy, after officials from the US and Russia met in Saudi Arabia for talks to end the war – without representatives from Kyiv or Europe present.

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After Mr Zelenskyy complained of being excluded from the discussions, Mr Trump suggested the conflict could have been “settled very easily” and said “you [Ukraine] should have never started it”.

In response, Mr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday the American leader is living in a “disinformation space” created by Russia, which has repeatedly sought to blame Ukraine for the war.

Mr Trump has since hit back, saying Mr Zelenskyy “better move fast or he is not going to have a country left” and branding him a “dictator”.

Mr Zelenskyy was elected as president of Ukraine in May 2019. Elections were previously scheduled to go ahead in 2024, but they were not held as a result of martial law being in place.

Ex-PM: Trump’s comments intended to ‘shock Europeans into action’

Ms Badenoch’s remarks come after reports that Tory MPs wanted her to take a stand on Ukraine since Mr Trump’s interventions.

Ukraine latest: Trump calls Zelenskyy a ‘dictator ‘

Europe is scrambling to respond to a US shift in foreign policy – with Mr Trump making clear that Washington no longer sees the defence of the continent as its primary concern.

Earlier on Wednesday, former prime minister Boris Johnson, who was in office when the war began, claimed Mr Trump’s statements are “not intended to be historically accurate but to shock Europeans into action”.

He asked when Europeans will “stop being scandalised about Donald Trump and start helping him to end this war?”

However on the other end of the political spectrum, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said that “calling Mr Zelenskyy a ‘dictator’ must be where the line is drawn”.

“It is my sincere hope that the whole political spectrum in the United Kingdom will speak with one voice in opposition to Trump’s lies.”

However defence secretary John Healey earlier reacted to the US president’s claim that Ukraine started the war.

The cabinet minister told reporters on a visit to Norway, near the border with Russia: “Three years ago, one country illegally invaded another, and since then, the Ukrainians have been fighting for their freedom.

“They’ve been fighting for their future, and they still are. So whilst all the focus may be on talks, not even negotiations, our concern as defence ministers is that we’re not jeopardising the peace by forgetting about the war.”

Politics

Prediction markets bet on Coinbase-linked Hassett as top Fed pick

Published

2 hours ago

December 1, 2025

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Prediction markets bet on Coinbase-linked Hassett as top Fed pick

Prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi view Kevin Hassett, US President Donald Trump’s National Economic Council director, as the favorite to replace Jerome Powell as the next Federal Reserve chair.

The odds of Hassett filling the seat have spiked to 66% on Polymarket and 74% on Kalshi at the time of writing. Hassett is widely viewed as crypto‑friendly thanks to his past role on Coinbase’s advisory council, a disclosed seven‑figure stake in the exchange and his leadership of the White House digital asset working group.

Founder and CEO of Wyoming-based Custodia Bank, and a prominent advocate for crypto-friendly regulations, Caitlin Long, commented on X:

“If this comes true & Hassett does become Fed chairman, anti-#crypto people at the Fed who still hold positions of power will finally be out (well, most of them anyway). BIG changes will be coming to the Fed.”

Kevin Hassett’s crypto credentials

Hassett is a long-time Republican policy economist who returned to Washington as Trump’s top economic adviser and has now emerged as the market-implied frontrunner to lead the Fed.

His financial disclosure reveals at least a seven‑figure Coinbase stake and compensation for serving on the exchange’s Academic and Regulatory Advisory Council, placing him unusually close to the crypto industry for a potential Fed chair.

Still, crypto has been burned before by reading too much into “crypto‑literate” resumes. Gary Gensler arrived at the Securities and Exchange Commission with MIT blockchain courses under his belt, but went on to preside over a wave of high‑profile enforcement actions, some of which critics branded as “Operation Chokepoint 2.0.”

A Hassett-led Fed might be more open to experimentation and less reflexively hostile to bank‑crypto activity. Still, the institution’s mandate on financial stability means markets should not assume a one‑way bet on deregulation.

Supervision pushback inside the Fed

The Hassett odds have jumped just as the Fed’s own approach to bank supervision has received pushback from veterans like Fed Governor Michael Barr, who earned his reputation as one of Operation Chokepoint 2.0’s key architects.

According to Caitlin Long, while he Barr “was Vice Chairman of Supervision & Regulation he did Warren’s bidding,” and he “has made it clear he will oppose changes made by Trump & his appointees.”

On Nov. 18, the Fed released new Supervisory Operating Principles that shift examiners toward a “risk‑first” framework, directing staff to focus on material safety‑and‑soundness risks rather than procedural or documentation issues.

In a speech the same day, Barr warned that narrowing oversight, weakening ratings frameworks and making it harder to issue enforcement actions or matters requiring attention could leave supervisors slower to act on emerging risks, arguing that gutting those tools may repeat pre‑crisis mistakes.

Days later, in Consumer Affairs Letter 25‑1, the Fed clarified that the new Supervisory Operating Principles do not apply to its Consumer Affairs supervision program (an area under Barr’s committee as a governor).

If prediction markets are right and a crypto‑friendly Hassett inherits this landscape, his Fed would not be writing on a blank slate but stepping into an institution already mid‑pivot on how hard (and where) it leans on banks.