The Downing Street team was also aware that to truly earn Trump’s respect, Starmer would have to – in the words of one adviser – “show some balls”, demonstrating that he was willing to stand up for the UK’s national interest.
As part of the first, there was a conscious decision to “dial down the volume” in public about Trump’s more outrageous public outbursts, whether that was falsely labelling Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator, suggesting making Canada the 51st US state, or sharing an AI video of “Trump Gaza”.
“We’re feeling good, we’re very well prepared,” one senior UK official declared on the eve of Keir Starmer’s highly anticipated first meeting with Donald Trump at the White House.
During their meetings, Trump’s warmth towards Starmer was apparent, describing him as a “special man”, lauding the “incredible” and “unprecedented” offer from King Charles of a second state visit, and even lavishing praise on the prime minister’s “beautiful” Surrey accent.
The second part of the UK strategy involved presenting a deal on the Chagos Islands as a national security issue, suggesting a tech-focused trade deal would be an economic boon for the US, and encouraging American security guarantees for Ukraine so that any peace treaty is durable.
