Saturday Night Live UK premiered on Sky One this weekend. The very first sketch the show ever broadcast featured George Fouracres as Prime Minister Keir Starmer, sitting at his desk, paralyzed at the thought of picking up the phone.
“Oh, golly. What if Donald shouts at me?”
That was the opening line of SNL UK. The first words of the first sketch of Britain’s most expensive comedy launch in years. A fictional prime minister, terrified of a real president.
By Sunday morning, the real president had shared the clip on Truth Social. No caption. No comment. Just the video.
Trump posts a vieo about Starmer using a sketch that mocks the PM.pic.twitter.com/oFtaP5xcMs
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 22, 2026
Three Weeks of “Not Winston Churchill”
The sketch didn’t come out of nowhere.
On March 3, Trump sat next to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and told reporters he was “not happy” with Starmer’s decision to block the U.S. from using British military bases to strike Iran. He said Starmer had caused American planes to fly “many extra hours.” Then he said it.
“This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”
Trump told The Telegraph he was “very disappointed.” He said it “probably never happened between our countries before.” He said Starmer “was worried about the legality.”
The U.K. had already allowed limited use of its bases on March 1 for what Downing Street called “defensive purposes.” A week later, when reports emerged that Britain was considering sending aircraft carriers, Trump posted on Truth Social: “That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer — But we will remember.”
On March 20 — two days before SNL UK premiered — Trump called NATO allies “COWARDS” for not helping open the Strait of Hormuz. On Friday, he said of the U.K.: “They should have acted a lot faster.”
TRUMP: “I’m not happy with the UK either… So we are very surprised. This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.” pic.twitter.com/Dn7gaQZa1E
— Conservative War Machine (@WarMachineRR) March 3, 2026
What the Sketch Said
In the cold open, Fouracres’ Starmer hangs up the moment Trump answers. He calls Trump a “scary, scary, wonderful president.” He tells his adviser, played by Hammed Animashaun as Deputy PM David Lammy: “I just want to keep him happy. You don’t understand him like I do. I can change him.”
The British press had already described Starmer as a “jellyfish” and a “doormat” over his handling of the base dispute. The sketch took those descriptions and turned them into a breakup metaphor — Starmer as the partner who can’t leave a relationship he knows isn’t working.
A Gen Z adviser, played by Jack Shep, tells Starmer to skip the phone call and send a voice note instead. Starmer agrees. “I’ll try anything. I’ll do anything. Except take a stand.”
In the voice note, he tells Trump he can’t go to war with him but still wants to be “chums.” He asks Trump to remember D-Day, Live Aid, and Iraq — “the first week and then none of the rest.” He frames the situation as a break, not a breakup. He offers the naval bases. “You can use them whenever you want.”
When it’s over, Lammy congratulates him. “You did the bare minimum. And that’s all people expect from you.”
What Trump Did With It
Trump posted the sketch to Truth Social on Sunday morning. He didn’t add a word.
He didn’t need to. The sketch had already delivered his message for him. For three weeks, Trump had been publicly describing Starmer as weak, slow, and afraid to act. The comedy version of Starmer said the same things — cowering at his desk, hanging up in fear, unable to take a stand, eventually offering the bases anyway.
The sketch was written as satire. The target was supposed to be the absurdity of the dynamic — a prime minister treating a geopolitical alliance like a bad relationship.
Trump shared it the way someone shares a clip that proves their point.
Seven Episodes, One Repost
SNL UK has seven more episodes. Jamie Dornan hosts next week. Riz Ahmed follows. The show was extended to eight episodes before it even premiered.
The Starmer cold open was the first political sketch SNL UK ever produced. It aired less than 12 hours before the person it was about — not the one it was mocking, but the one standing on the other side of the phone — posted it to an audience of millions as confirmation of everything he’d already said.
The sketch ended with Fouracres’ Starmer looking pleased with himself for doing the bare minimum. Trump’s repost didn’t change the joke. It just changed who was laughing.
