Sir Keir Starmer baffled social media users with a Top Gun-style TikTok video where he patrols around military boats and aircraft.
The bizarre video, laden with heavy editing and slow-motion clips, was posted to the Prime Minister’s official account a month after he was warned the armed forces face a major funding black hole.
It opens with Sir Keir adjusting his specs and blinking into the camera over an energetic UK rap song, before he transforms into Starmer the action man.
He strolls around the deck of an aircraft carrier, where he surveys a submarine in the water and watches a jet take off from the runway.
We see him riding in an open helicopter over the sea, navigating through the passages of a ship, and speaking to a group of servicemen and servicewomen.
Interspersed are moody shots of Starmer staring into the distance or peering through binoculars, and a slow-motion clip of him striding off a helicopter into a grassy field, tie swinging.
Ally leaders President Macron of France and President Zelensky of Ukraine also feature briefly, the latter sharing a warm embrace with Starmer.
Viewers struggled to understand the message behind the video, and were further perplexed by the caption: ‘How life feels after I eat 2 and a half digestives’.
Sir Keir Starmer gave a stern stare into the distance as he posed for the social media video
It features him patrolling a number of military assets, including this submarine
Action shots were interspersed with moody and heavily edits clips
One pointed out that ‘our tax money [is] going on Keir Starmer edits’, and another similarly asked ‘Is this where OUR taxes go?’
Somebody asked ‘Who is running this account?’, and another said, ‘Keir I don’t understand the caption can you explain’.
‘Literally have a whole country to run and you’re talking about digestives. Are u serious?’, wrote another.
Others pointed out the irony of Starmer throwing himself into social media while he mulls banning it for under-16s.
The video made no reference to the challenges the armed forces are facing, after Starmer was reportedly warned by the chief of defence staff last month that there is a huge gap in budgets over the next four years.
The shortfall raises the prospect of the military needing to make deep cuts.
Reports said that forces head Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton delivered a grim assessment of the financial situation over Christmas.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Defence Secretary John Healey were also at the meeting to be informed about the £28billion shortfall by 2030.
Starmer was seen in slow motion striding off a military helicopter into a grassy field
The Prime Minister walks around the deck of an aircraft carrier, accompanied by military personel
Starmer rode in a helicopter and stared through the open cabin door
Sir Keir was said to be deeply unhappy because the strategic defence review (SDR) was meant to have been ‘fully costed’.
The defence investment plan to deliver the SDR could now be delayed until March while officials work out what to do about the issue.
Factors being blamed include higher inflation, pay rises for troops and the cost of the nuclear deterrent.
Starmer’s stumbling efforts on TikTok could be attributed to the fact that he only joined the Chinese-run platform last month, ahead of a visit to China next week.
His first video had him awkwardly urging people to ‘follow me’ as he walked through the door of Number 10 to turn on Christmas lights.
The TikTok app has been barred from government devices since 2023, over concerns about ‘vulnerability’ of information on the platform owned by Chinese company ByteDance.
That does not prevent politicians from having accounts, however.
A No10 source said last month: ‘We’re finding new ways to share our vision of national renewal wherever people are – from TikTok and Substack to traditional media.’
A senior No10 source pointed out that other world leaders including Emmanuel Macron and Giorgia Meloni were already on TikTok.
However, they confirmed there had been no change to the government’s security policy.
‘Restrictions on use of the app on most government devices remain in place,’ the source said.
