When Donald Trump addressed Congress this week, he declared he was ‘just getting started’. His words will not have soothed politicians in the UK, who are still playing catch-up with the President’s first 43 days.
This week, Trump proved yet again that he is the biggest force in British politics. His blow-up with Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, threats of a trade war and the disparaging comments by his Vice-President, J.D. Vance, about European countries that haven’t ‘fought a war in 30 or 40 years’ dominated Westminster.
Amid all the noise, UK party leaders have been drawn into new positions. Despite his close links to Team Trump, Reform’s Nigel Farage has denounced Vance. Kemi Badenoch has had to slap down colleagues for mouthing off online after one Tory MP suggested Trump might be a Russian asset. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer seems to be becoming the unlikely hero of the hour.
Since winning the election, Starmer has had little in the way of good press. But in the past week, this has started to change. As the negotiations around a Ukraine-Russia peace deal turned fraught, the Prime Minister has emerged as – in the words of one minister – ‘an adult in the room’. His visit to the White House went without a hitch, a success that was highlighted the next day when Zelensky’s meeting tipped into disaster. Since then, Starmer has attempted to act as a ‘bridge’ between the US and Ukraine as he works with European leaders to try to get peace talks back on track.
In Westminster, a rally-round-the-flag effect is under way.
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