Trump has just given Starmer a salutary lesson in the art of the deal
Trump has just given Starmer a salutary lesson in the art of the deal
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Trump and Starmer have resolved their differences on Lord Mandelson but at what cost to the prime minister? David Maddox reports. There were sighs of relief this week when the White House finally confirmed that Donald Trump would accept the credentials of Lord Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US.
![[Starmer will have had to make concessions]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/29/16/34/BRITAIN-POLITICS-fux60js0.jpeg)
The threat that, for the first time ever, an ambassador between the two countries would be rejected had seemed very real with all the potential for personal humiliation on the international stage for Sir Keir Starmer. But in reality it now appears that the man who in 1987 wrote The Art of the Deal may have just given the British prime minister a lesson in his craft.
![[Donald Trump called William ‘very handsome’ after their meeting in Paris (Aaron Chown/PA)]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/09/14/e2d0c77f12dd0845dc79818ef996d5ffY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzMzODQwMDM1-2.78417946.jpg)
After all, Trump is a man who loves a deal, as we are seeing play out with Greenland, Ukraine, TikTok, the Panama Canal and previously with North Korea. There is no doubt that Trump unleashed the dogs last week on Starmer and his government briefing heavily on the Mandelson issue, in particular raising the prospect that his credentials would be rejected.
But this is a man who knows the power of leverage, as he noted in his book: “'Leverage: don't make deals without it. Enhance.”. Trump also pointed out: “The worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seem desperate to make it. That makes the other guy smell blood, and then you’re dead.”.
