Starmer
plays royal card as he tiptoes around the madness of King Donald
The British
prime minister is the latest would-be Trump whisperer from Europe to butter up
a capricious president
David Smith
David Smith
in Washington
Thu 27 Feb
2025 22.20 CET
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/27/keir-starmer-trump-visit-relations
How the
tables have turned. Once upon a time visitors had to fawn over mad King George
III and maintain the great pretence that everything was normal. Now it was the
British prime minister’s turn to show deference to a capricious, erratic US
president who might blow it all up.
First Keir
Starmer, the 58th British prime minister (does Liz Truss really count?), and
Donald Trump, the 45th and 47th US president, sat side by side before the
fireplace in the Oval Office. Trump stretched credulity by claiming they “get
along famously”. Starmer thanked Trump for “changing the conversation” on
Ukraine.
Then the
prime minister reached into his jacket breast pocket and produced a letter from
King Charles and handed it over (take that, Macron!)
But the
theatre came unstuck as a baffled Trump asked: “Am I supposed to read it right
now?” Like a schoolchild trying to impress his parents with exam results,
Starmer replied: “Yes, please do!”
There was a
long, agonising silence as Trump studied the letter. Oddly, he wanted to make
sure it was signed.
“That’s
quite a signature isn’t it – beautiful!”
Starmer told
the gathering that the letter contained an invitation for Trump’s second state
visit to Britain. Trump nodded at someone as if to impress them with how
important it was. Starmer gushed: “This is really special. This has never
happened before.”
Then,
placing a hand on Trump’s right arm for effect: “This is unprecedented!”
But there
was still some anxiety swimming in the prime minister’s stomach. “What I
haven’t got yet is your answer.”
Trump
responded: “The answer is yes!”
Rejoice!
Rejoice! Corks pop, confetti swirls and fireworks explode. Prepare to bring the
Trump baby blimp out of retirement.
Starmer had
calculated correctly that the puff and pageantry of a state visit with King
Charles was bound to appeal to a man who, when he recently wrote on social
media, “LONG LIVE THE KING!”, had only himself in mind.
On a recent
episode of the TV programme Washington Week with the Atlantic, host Jeffrey
Goldberg and guests suggested other ways for the leaders of US allies to gain
Trump’s respect. “Golf and flattery”, was the conclusion, although guest Peter
Baker noted that nominating Trump for the Nobel peace prize also helps.
So it was no
surprise when, in the Oval Office, Trump talked about his golfing investments
in the UK and said: “I own Turnberry, I own Aberdeen, and I own a great place
called Doonbeg, in Ireland, so I have a great warm spot for your country.”
Journalist
Mark Austin observed on X: “Sometimes it’s the smaller stuff. I hear on good
authority that high on the list of what Donald Trump wants from the UK is for
the Open Golf Championship to be staged at his Trump Turnberry course in
Scotland.”
Starmer and
Trump is a pairing as unlikely as fire and ice, rock and scissors or cats and
cucumbers. Starmer is a strait-laced lawyer who defended human rights; Trump a
brash reality TV star sending undocumented immigrants to Guantánamo Bay.
Starmer has
a passion for Beethoven piano sonatas and Shostakovich; Trump plays DJ at his
Mar-a-Lago estate with offerings such as Elvis Presley’s Suspicious Minds,
Hello by Lionel Ritchie, Guns N’ Roses’ November Rain and James Brown and
Luciano Pavarotti’s It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World.
Starmer was
reportedly a vegetarian for 30 years, though he recently went back to eating
fish, making him a pescatarian – which might sound a bit too DEI to Trump, a
cheeseburger champ who spent part of his election campaign dishing them out
from McDonald’s.
Perhaps it
was just as well we were spared a repeat of past UK-US dalliances: Franklin
Roosevelt getting a full view of Winston Churchill in the buff, later
describing him as a “cherub” who was “pink and white all over”; Ronald Reagan
and Margaret Thatcher dancing at the White House; George W Bush joking about
Tony Blair: “Well, we both use Colgate toothpaste.”
But Starmer
came here burdened by the knowledge that the transatlantic alliance, which has
held steady since the second world war, could fall apart on his watch.
At times he
stood his ground, interrupting Trump to correct his false claim that European
countries “get their money back” from Ukraine: “Mainly it was gifted,
actually,” Starmer said.
The US
president, meanwhile, was challenged about his past remark describing the
Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as “a dictator”, Trump replied, “Did
I say that? I can’t believe I said that. Next question,” with a smile playing
on his lips.
Relief for
Starmer, having been spared a debate about the dictator-ness of Zelenskyy and
Russia’s Vladimir Putin. But there was a less reassuring answer when Trump was
asked whether the US would ride to the rescue of future British peacekeepers in
Ukraine.
“I’ve always
thought about the British, they don’t need much help,” said Trump, as a bust of
Churchill looked on. “They can take care of themselves very well, you know
what? No, it sounds like it’s evasive, but it’s not evasive, you know, the
British have been incredible soldiers, incredible military. And they can take
care of themselves, but if they need help, I’ll always be with the British, OK,
I’ll always be with them. But they don’t need help. You look at their career.”
He turned to
Starmer, awkwardly grabbed his hand and asked, “You have done very well over
the years, haven’t you?”, speaking the language of one imperialist nation to
another.
Starmer
launched into damage control mode: “I’m very proud of our country but we’ve
also always been backing each other up between our two countries. That is why
this is the greatest alliance for prosperity and security I think the world has
ever seen. Whenever necessary, we’ve absolutely backed each other up.”
But what
Trump said next was even more alarming: “Could you take on Russia by
yourselves?”
“Well,” said
Starmer, with a nervous laugh, looking tense with hands folded on knee. He
might be able to breeze through the prime minister’s questions in Westminster,
but Trump had left him lost for words. And Putin, no doubt watching from afar,
must have been licking his lips.
After lunch,
the men held a joint press preference in front of hundreds of journalists in
the east room. Starmer laid it on thick by remarking on seeing Churchill’s bust
back in the Oval Office, Britain and the US’s alliance in the second world war
and that invitation from the king.
“An
unprecedented second state visit,” he said, channeling Trumpian grandiloquence.
“This has never happened before. It’s so incredible, it will be historic.”
It worked.
Trump, after all, is so obvious, so readable, so susceptible to flattery. He
rejoined: “What a beautiful accent. I would have been president 20 years ago if
I had that accent.”
Millions of
Americans recoiled at the thought of King Donald and that timeline. But the
inner Starmer did a little dance of delight
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