Donald Trump was in a jocular mood as he met with Keir Starmer, barely allowing the Prime Minister to get in a word in edgeways during their joint appearance in the Oval Office. ‘Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that,’ he mused after a reporter queried whether he continued to regard Volodymyr Zelensky as a dictator, only days after he had flayed him as a tinpot authoritarian who might be best off returning to his halcyon days as a television comic.
If anyone was the joker, however, it was Trump. He entertained the press corps while Starmer played the straight man. Trump never got handsy with Starmer, as he did with Emmanuel Macron during his recent visit, who gently but firmly steered Trump’s paw off his left knee, but he seemed to appreciate the stiff upper lip that his coeval displayed.
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