Our government has been willing to pull every stop out for Donald Trump. Last week, prime minister Keir Starmer took to the White House in an attempt to woo him, taking every opportunity to emphasise the UK’s “special relationship” with the US. There’s just one glaring issue: with a narcissistic bully like Trump, you can praise him to the skies, but he’ll always demand more. Sadly, Starmer has now played all his top cards, yet he’s got precious little in return.
For weeks, Starmer, and his new ambassador to the US, Peter Mandleson, have been working out how to deal with Trump. Last week, they rolled out that plan. An ‘unprecedented’ state visit would appeal to Trump’s ego. The offer of trade talks would allay his obsessive concern that other countries are taking advantage of the US. Biggest of all, slashing the international aid budget to hike military spending would show Starmer was no ‘woke’ pushover, and was prepared to follow Trump’s example on the world stage.
- Armando Iannucci: ‘I hope The Thick of It didn’t put young people off politics’
- What impact will Trump’s presidency actually have on the UK? Here’s everything you need to know
- In politics, Starmer’s seriousness will always trump Donald’s showmanship
While Starmer’s visit was, at times, excruciating to watch, it went down well with Britain’s media. It looked like we might avoid the bully’s wrath after all. More importantly, it seemed Starmer might have convinced Trump to guarantee any ceasefire in Ukraine with American military might.
Under a week later, that strategy lies in tatters. Trump and his vice president ambushed Ukrainian president Zelenskyy in the White House and have since withdrawn support for Ukraine. The US has continued to behave like a spoiled child on the world stage, attacking ostensible allies and launching a trade war. Vance even seemingly referred to Britain as a “random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years”.
Starmer is now left to pick up the pieces. His international development minister resigned in fury over his aid announcement. He has promised trade talks with an unreliable partner that place our public services at risk, potentially empowering the Big Tech broligarchy to have free access to our personal data, while Trump still holds the threat of tariffs over our head. And he has to pull off a state visit which more than half of Britons believe should never have been offered in the first place.
We need to recognise, now, that appeasing a character like Trump does not lead to a safer world. Sometimes, you need to be clear on your principles and stand behind them. If the British government won’t do that voluntarily, we need to force them to. After all, two state visits is well outside the necessities of normal diplomacy, it should be an honour, and one that Trump has done exactly nothing to warrant.
