Remember the big Oval Office meeting and White House press conference with Keir Starmer and President Trump back in February? The one the whole lobby fawned over as if it was the 2025 version of Thatcher-Reagan…
Turns out it was a total flop – and even worse, a major embarrassment for Starmer. Asked during that press conference whether Starmer had persuaded him not to put tariffs on Britain, President Trump said:
“He tried. He was working hard. I’ll tell you, he earned whatever the hell they pay him over there, but he tried. I think there’s a very good chance that in the case of these two great, friendly countries, I think we could very well end up with a real trade deal where the tariffs wouldn’t be necessary. We’ll see.”
That was always incredibly unlikely to happen in the time available (not that you’d know from UK press reporting, which guzzled down the President’s words). Now Downing Street says: “When it comes to tariffs, the Prime Minister has been clear he will always act in the national interest and we’ve been preparing for all eventualities ahead of the announcement from President Trump, which we would expect the UK to be impacted by alongside other countries.” Jonathan Reynolds says this morning that “if the US can reach an agreement with anyone, I believe it can with the UK.” In reality, the UK will be whacked by tariffs tomorrow, with no exceptions or sector carve-outs. Starmer’s much-vaunted White House visit will go down as one of the most costly by any Prime Minister in history…
UPDATE: For those co-conspirators who want to be reminded what hacks said of that Starmer/Trump meeting:
Speaking on Times Radio, former Home Secretary David Blunkett spoke about overdiagnosis of mental problems:
“Let’s distinguish those who are really severely mentally ill, diagnosed with things that require prolonged medical and diagnostic treatment. My wife and I talk about this a lot, because she’s a retired GP, about the fact that you can be sad without being ill. You can be momentarily depressed because your boyfriend or girlfriend’s just thrown you and you’re not mentally ill. You can even have mild issues, which can be dealt with with the right kind of support, but it doesn’t make you mentally ill. So we’ve got a real task, I think, to get the psychology, if you like, of this over. But there are things where you definitely need medical intervention, and there are other things where you need good friends, you need good connectivity, and you need a job.”