David Vance SubstackRead More
Well, what did you make of UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s showing during his visit to the Trump White House yesterday?
It was, as a minimum, performative.
Before we get into the details of what actually happened, just remember the historical context. Starmer in on record as a hostile critic of Trump. For example, in June 2019, while campaigning within the Labour Party, Starmer wrote, “Humanity and dignity. Two words not understood by President Trump.” His Labour Party campaigned FOR Kamala Harris. He is determined to get the UK back into EU orbit. He has been fanatically against Russia and has crushed free speech in the UK. That is the man who swanned into the White House yesterday claiming to have a “special relationship” with Donald Trump.
Now let’s look at what happened.
Trump greeted him at the entrance to the White House which was flying the Union Jack, upside down. Trump’s first words were to admire Starmer’s suit. Given that Starmer had been at the centre of some controversy regarding accepting money from Lord Alli for suits (and glasses) this may have been trolling! Or maybe a Saville Row suit can still impress?
Starmer understands the importance of flattery and one of his first moves was to hand deliver an invitation from King Charles the Green for a second State Visit to the UK. This is without precedent. Trump lapped it all up, he is a big fan of the pomp and pageantry that is part of the British Monarchy.
The sycophancy from Starmer is off the scale but in the diplomatic game, this is powerful. I wish it wasn’t.
As they moved on, Trump stunned many British MAGA supporters including Nigel Farage when he appeared to support the Starmer plan to sell off the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. But it may be that the mainstream media were once again misleading us. Despite selectively edited clips of Trump and Starmer’s meeting circulating yesterday, President Trump signalled he was not fully committed to the UK’s proposal, stating: “It’s a little bit early; we have to be given the details.” Yet astonishingly, not a single journalist who attended the meeting thought to tweet this critical remark.
Starmer was there to get Trump to agree to a US military “backstop” to an Ukraine peace deal. Trump carefully sidestepped that, it won’t be happening. Starmer sought to get Trump’s agreement to NOT apply trade tariffs on the UK. In that he seemed partially successful but in limited areas!
The BEST bit of the meeting came in this exchange between JD Vance and Starmer over Free Speech. Watch this!
JD had been very critical of free speech violations in the UK and you can see Starmer squirming as he responds. Note the defensive pose. Also worth pointing out that even as Starmer lies through his teeth about “protecting free speech” in the UK, HE is the the man imprisoning protestors for Facebook posts and building an Islamophobia blasphemy council. Starmer is killing free speech and JD Vance knows it. Look at Trump laughing as JD does the heavy lifting on this one.
As with all these meetings, a lot of stuff is said but all that matters is what happens. Starmer has come away very happy, convinced he and Trump get along as great pals. I think that is misreading Trump. JD Vance was polite but much tougher. He plainly sees through the cultivated facade. Time will tell.
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