The Brits are SO smart.

I was cringing hard, but I think they played a blinder. I remember Blair telling a story (forgive the vagueness) of him and Bill Clinton visiting somewhere together and the hosts had given them both hideous Hawaiin type shirts (I think) - Blair chose the least offensive and Clinton chose the worst ..when asked why he said "because everyone will know it was not my choice" .. I feel a bit like that over he visit.

It’s called diplomacy, Starmer can’t steamroll in there making demands, there’s more than one way of getting what you want from a narcissistic dictator like Trump. If it benefits Ukraine and the rest of Europe then so be it.

Agree. Scotland need to offer a state visit with pomp and ceremony ASAP. I don’t care if they don’t like it, now isn’t the time to be superior whilst letting England do all the dirty work

Agreed. I wondered to DH the other day whether we should be wheeling out the RF as they seem to be some of the few people Trump admires/respects.

Trump is also half Scottish (his mother was born on Lewis) so offering a state visit in Scotland is a good idea. Remind Trump of his personal connections because that matters to him.

I just think of the military adage that you are saluting the rank not the holder of the rank. Whatever you think of Trump, he is the President of the USA so you have to treat him as the President.

I agree it was very well played.

The mirroring of language, the flourishing of the letter, the shoulder patting. I was watching for that actually after seeing Macron deploy it, and spotted Starmer's first shoulder pat as he arrived at the door. Clever.

Maybe slightly overdone thereafter but that would be my only criticism.

Embarrassing but necessary. Kudos to his coaches.

Trump is so unpredictable though. Did anyone else hear him turn to Starmer in the post lunch press conference and bark 'that's enough' as he was answering a question?

Starmer’s sucking up and bowing down to the orange one may very well lead to the decline of the commonwealth, which is probably a good thing but the king probably won’t appreciate it that much. Canada is well pissed off with him.

Imagine if Trump said thanks but no thanks - last visit was boring as hell.

I thought it was embarrassing and based on his actions to date, Trump will probably change his mind within a couple of days anyway. It’s just one old white man sucking up to another. I dread to think what this is all going to cost the UK in terms of agriculture and the NHS. I think Starmer made himself and us look utterly ridiculous.

So, we have ended up paying for Ukraine's security and sending our soldiers to peacekeeping, while America walks away with Ukraine's rare minerals, and you think we've played him?

😂😂 yep.

Which is all fine, but he's clearly entirely under Musks thumb so I hope they have a strategy to handle Musk too

I'm sure there is one. But I also honestly can't see Trump tolerating Musk's ego for long. There will be a biggly falling out. The biggest.

We’re doing the same! Travelling to Canada and planning a trip to Mexico too.

Starmer was very well prepared for the meeting and played it to perfection.
its just politics after all.

sadly i think you are right

Actually I would love to know the strategy for Musk because clearly he's in charge domestically in the US. Trump gets to do the international stuff. Perhaps that is the answer, ie Musk stays at home....

Which is all fine, but he's clearly entirely under Musks thumb so I hope they have a strategy to handle Musk too

I despise Trump (and his sidekick Chump). I imagine will enjoy his carriage ride and the state toadying. Then he'll do the dirty on us. This might placate him today but I think all he's really interested in is the bottom line.

It tends to be forgotten that Trump already negotiated with the UK under the Conservatives for a FTA. The economics of this are important to the UK. We need the US and their tech industry which the EU cannot offer us.

A FTA removes the tariff threat for good. This looks good in principle,

I think the touching was very clever. Such a patronising move, a shoulder pat, I've always thought.

Oft-used as an attempt to placate an 'uppity' woman.

Looks like starker arse licking to Trump

keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
It was so cringe that I do wonder if the overly theatrical and out of character stance was a wink wink, nod nod, we know you know to the British people. Like some kind of comedy sketch.

The economic cooperation will consist of “we aren’t going to slap you with massive tariffs”. Nothing more.

Trump is easy to play like a fiddle and the US Ambassador is playing a blinder with him this time. The first time around they got it all wrong, insulting him and upsetting him. He's like a big, spoilt baby, and that's how they're treating him and he's lapping it up 😆

Britain shouldn’t be rolling the red carpet for a leader who is real time planning ethnic cleansing of an entire region. Starmer is already complicit up to his eyeballs.