TRANSCRIPT
Much has been made of the unlikely friendship between Donald Trump and Keir Starmer, but it, and all the special relationship symbolism can’t disguise the fact the leaders disagree on how to solve almost all of the world’s most pressing problems.
Meaning their meeting at the Prime Minister’s country retreat of Chequers could easily have gone off the rails.
On the first potential flashpoint - Britain’s imminent recognition of an independent Palestinian state - the President was unusually restrained.
“I have a disagreement with the Prime Minister on that score. Okay. One of our few disagreements actually."
He gave no sign he’ll use his influence over Benjamin Netanyahu to curb Israel’s actions in Gaza.
REPORTER: "If not now, when will you exercise that power to stop? And then for both of you..."
TRUMP: "But you do understand about October 7th..."
On Ukraine, Prime Minister Starmer urged his American counterpart to turn the screws on Moscow.
"We have to put extra pressure on Putin and it's only when the President has put pressure on Putin that he's actually shown any inclination to move. So we have to ramp
that pressure up.”
The President hints he will, if Europe stops buying Russian oil, while expressing disappointment with Putin.
“He has let me down, I mean he's killing many people and he's losing more people than he's you know, than he's killing. I mean, frankly, Russian soldiers are being killed at a higher rate than the Ukrainian soldiers. But yeah he has let me down.”
That was unexpected… this was totally unexpected, the President appearing to reveal the US is in talks with the Taliban to regain control of Afghanistan’s Bagram airbase which is close to the borders of China and Pakistan.
“We gave it to them for nothing. We're trying to get it back by the way, OK. That could be a little breaking news - we're trying to get it back. Because they need things from us - we want that base back. But one of the reasons we want the base is, as you know, it's an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons."
Trump, who often boasts of stopping migration at the Mexican border, offered some advice to the Prime Minister on how to fix Britian’s small boat problem.
“I told the Prime Minister I would stop it. And it doesn't matter if you call out the military, it doesn't matter what means you use, but it's going to destroy - it destroys countries from within.”
The subject of Jeffrey Epstein was only briefly raised, and only in relation to the sacking of the UK’s ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson, whose gushing letters to the sex offender were recently revealed.
The President’s response… Peter Who?
And without any blunders or blowups… it was over.
Donald Trump’s joint press conferences are always a bit of a wild ride, but that one went just about as well as Keir Starmer would have hoped.
The President was given several opportunities to criticise the Prime Minister’s policies, but chose not to.
Downing Street aides will be delighted.
State visits aren’t cheap, and there had been questions about what the benefit for Britain would be, given the Americans had made it clear tariffs won’t get any lower.
For the Prime Minister, it saw him solidify his position as Europe’s 'Trump Whisperer', able to disagree on important issues without blowback, although seemingly limited in his ability to change the American’s mind.
For the President, it was two days of pageantry and flattery, being treated like a King, by the King.
He said it was one of the greatest honours of his life and you get the sense he meant it.
But as the Trumps departed on Air Force One, British diplomats likely breathed a sign of relief.
Sometimes it’s nice when guests - however welcome - take their leave.
