British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's inner circle apparently had to fight to keep from cracking up during his very first phone call with Donald Trump — because the American president veered wildly off-script into a bizarre theory about wildlife.
According to Starmer's former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, the conversation started normally enough, with Trump raising his familiar gripes about wind turbines.
But it quickly spiraled into something nobody in the room was prepared for, the BBC reported.
Trump reportedly told Starmer that wind turbines were slaughtering British birds, and that foxes gorging on the fallen carcasses had grown so obese that people could no longer identify the species. McSweeney told the BBC officials in the room were "barely able to contain themselves because it was so funny," though everyone forced themselves to stay composed given the historic nature of the call.
There's no evidence UK foxes are ballooning in size. And while wind turbines do kill some birds, research shows they're responsible for far fewer bird deaths per unit of energy produced than the fossil fuels Trump keeps pushing Starmer to embrace instead.
In June, Trump used Truth Social to announce Starmer's resignation before Starmer himself had said a word about stepping down, tacking on criticism of his immigration and energy record and a sign-off wishing him well. Downing Street said the two men hadn't even discussed it. Starmer confirmed his resignation the next day.