The Brits are SO smart.

To be fair if he can tolerate being ambushed for hand shaking by Gerry Adams, this will be nothing

If only ‘The Windsors’ was still on. This would be great material!

This could end up being very embarrassing for Starmer though. Turning up as a fawning baron from some distant province and pledging allegiance, armed with his king’s letter of introduction, must turn a lot of Labour MPs’ stomachs. And if the reality turns out to be thin gruel or just disdain, it will be very hard to recover from.

Not to mention the fact his party actively campaigned for the Democrats 😖😖😖

Very much with you on that, spuddy4; we're all stuck with Trump and somehow have to make the best of it, but I don't imagine this will change his underlying attitudes towards a tiny country that matters little but has rather a lot of people who've insulted him

Also agree that they'll probably dangle some honorary gong in front of him, and by the time he's finished listening to Charles's maunderings about this and that he may well deserve it

Starmer may have got results. Or he may not. Time will tell.

At the moment I’m inclined to give Starmer the win, mostly because Trump’s words were warmer than for other leaders and countries. I judge Trump’s instincts as more ‘Anglo’ than European - an unexpected Brexit dividend! (The exact opposite of Biden.)

This could end up being very embarrassing for Starmer though. Turning up as a fawning baron from some distant province and pledging allegiance, armed with his king’s letter of introduction, must turn a lot of Labour MPs’ stomachs. And if the reality turns out to be thin gruel or just disdain, it will be very hard to recover from.

This. And as an aside, can Trump not read? The letter thing was really odd. Looking for the signature and then passing it to Starmer to tell the press what it said.

@FiveFoxes - I seem to remember reading that Trump has terrible eyesight, but won't wear glasses. Apparently, the font on his autocue is huge and this contributes to his stilted delivery because there are too few words on the screen to show what is coming next.

It was utterly cringeworthy; well done to Starmer for pulling it off. If you think he overdid it, try watching the first Cabinet meeting from Trump's first presidency. He made everyone round the table start by thanking him profusely for letting them serve, with a good dollop of arse-licking. I cringed myself into pretzels just watching it!

@NeelyOHara "Starmer is fighting for himself, and his useless lackey that’s pissed off America, Lammy."

Could you say some more about this?

It’s like we’re back to medieval politics now. All about grace,and favour and flattery. It’s Henry VIII and the Field of Cloth of Gold. The more it changes, the more it stays the same..

It's fascinating in a way.

Whilst people are happy and cheering a King's letter Trump and Putin carve up minerals.

The real power isn't in making people beam at the former, it's getting economic gain and resources with the latter.

But we're now distracted and think we've beaten him, so we're happy and they are more so.

Exactly what we said last night! She will probably have a strategic chest infection!

Starmer is fighting for himself, and his useless lackey that’s pissed off America, Lammy.

He seems to have played the role well that was required.

There's no way in a normal political dynamic the whole cabinet would sit quietly while Trump joked about "throwing them out" if they said they didn't like Musk. There's something quite massively wrong.

Yes. The cabinet even broke into applause.

It reminds of a piece of film of a Saddam Hussain addressing a conference hall. He successively denounced some of those present as traitors, and they were hauled out by guards as he spoke.

As the speech progressed, the remaining audience clapped each denunciation louder and more desperately, each afraid that if they didn't it would be them next.

It was cringeworthy but also incredibly well done watching Starmer attempt to press every one of the "jackpot" buttons on Trump's ego.

I kind of had the lines from "The Room Where It Happens" from Hamilton running through my mind watching it. DD1 (aged 12) had the only comment of "bloody hell, he's gone even MORE orange, he looks more ridiculous than Boris Johnson" (DD1 spent most of the Covid Pandemic working out if she could form a political party to get her school back open and flush Boris down the toilet so she's rather politically astute/terrifying)

We sold our dignity yesterday and it was cringeworthy to watch.

I did enjoy watching Keir Starmer having to thank Trump for restoring a statue of Churchill to the oval office after he removed a giant Margaret Thatcher painting from his own though.

This. And as an aside, can Trump not read? The letter thing was really odd. Looking for the signature and then passing it to Starmer to tell the press what it said.

I am not sure what The Plan is from the Government, but I hope there is one. This meeting certainly looked very very well planned and coached, so I think there probably is one. Pretty sure we're not just sucking up to the US and that there is a strategy (see also Macron).

Using the Royal Family and all the pomp we can muster isn’t just about the U.K. The Royals can prevail on royals fro other European countries including the leaders of said countries to flatter Trump. It needn’t separate us from the rest of Europe.

Yes but Russia will also take a cut. Why else has Russia agreed to a ceasefire? Trump is business first and foremost he doesn't do war. If a deal can be made he is in on it. Putin and Trump are the winners whilst we pay for security that is not needed, as Trump well knows, as he is giving Putin the resources to stop the war.

Europe does not have any power and Russia and the US are now once again world leaders and enjoying every second of it.

Exactly. It's amazing how it's done. The person played feels great because there's flattery. Quite something to watch.

The leaders of the major EU countries disagree with you.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/how-brexit-made-starmer-the-eus-man-to-talk-defence-with-trump-9x6932hzh

And this. US get the minerals, we possibly get security if US workers are there.

It was a show. They butter each other up but really it's US here getting what they're after.

You really believe this? We have no influence at all.

It was pretty funny.

Interesting to see the tone switch for some on we can't trust US to great we have deals.

the Cringe is a small price to pay for having some kind of influence in a ‘peace process’ where so many lives/ security in Europe lies in the balance.

Hasn't the EU pretty much agreed Starmer is the collective spokesperson?

There was a meeting of EU leaders where less important members weren't included but Starmer was.