The Brits are SO smart.

He’s not a great orator but I think that’s because his voice is nasal and quite high pitched

And yet he was the one who looked in complete control while KS looked out of his depth. Ive no idea how he managed as a barrister he just kooks so nervous all the time.

I'm not sure he cares about the USA in the long run, @AnonymousBleep. It's a bizarre thing to say about a President, but there we go. I don't believe he thinks further than his own immediate interests.

I like this take on it. When I first read about it, I was pretty annoyed and was a bit why the fuck does this POS get a second state visit?! Fuck that.

However, on reading the other responses, I much prefer the take the invitation was handed over like you would to a two year old who wanted to feel special "Here Donald, we've got this for you, no one has EVER had one of these before, but we are giving this to you. Just you, because we think you are super duper special and clever."

The EU is small compared to the US. It doesn't have its own army and is still reliant on lots of small powers, so can't guarantee security in the same way that the USA can. 'Riding on their shirt-tails' isn't exactly true seeing as the USA demanded really heavy reparations for WW2. The UK only finished paying ours back in 2006. The USA have profited hugely from the help they put in - as they're doing again with Ukraine, having vastly inflated the amount of reparations they claim to be owed. They are not and never have been noble benefactors for the UK or Europe, they're putting in a) for profit and b) to keep Western values dominant. Trump only seems to care about a) and isn't bothered about b). More fool him if he thinks this will work out well for the USA in the long run.

This. Funny that you think Trump is the one being played.

@LadyBracknellsHandbagg can you say why Lammy can do this for Trump but not the U.K. taxpayer?

''The Chagos Islands deal will not go forward without the support of US President Donald Trump, the foreign secretary has said.'

We will lose international standing as we slash foreign aid and harm people in the process. Maybe even some more epidemics growing or refugees fleeing

But for those who think foreign aid is not useful I'm happy for the billions to go to defence instead.

Trump longs to have a seat at the table with the educated and sophisticated world leaders. He doesn't have a prayer, he is crass to his core, they will only ever humor him.

I have no loyalty to any political party as I don’t subscribe to ideologies. What I do know is that as a woman, my right to vote was hard won for me by previous generations, and I take it very seriously, so I make a judgement call based on the evidence in front of me. I have never expected to find myself in agreement with ALL the policies of ANY political party, as that is impossible.

I have read extensively about the Chagos Islands, and with all due respect you seem to be simplifying the options whilst not understanding the bigger picture. We have an obligation to follow international law if we wish to be taken seriously on the world stage, it is not simply a matter of money. As a nation we are largely responsible for the situation we find ourselves in, much of our historical empire building does us no credit, and this is one of those occasions when dues must be paid.

UK has a king because it is a kingdom.

US has Trump because it is a country.

There’s a lot of truth in that.

It buys goodwill, which then gives us preference for trade deals, even diplomatic incidents - ie do you think the Taliban would have released the British couple they arrested with an apology if we had not still been sending £151m for 24/25 in foreign aid to Afghanistan?

Foreign aid also usually goes via International Red Cross and other NGOs so it is almost exclusively spent on humanitarian efforts.

The days of suitcases with cash being given to warlords and dictators are in the past.

That’s rubbish! President Trump knows exactly what he’s doing. He throws a grenade into the room and awaits the results…..

And just look how much he’s done in such a short time. By demanding access to and repayment in minerals from Ukraine he’s neatly positioned Americans to be working on Ukrainian soil/land.

And there you have the “backstop” negating the need for American troops as a guarantor of the peace.
And at last he’s forced the EU wankers to step up to their responsibilities and protect their own back yard.
Europe has been riding on the shirttails of the US for years. The EU machine is run by arrogant, entitled bastards, running two profligate parliaments yet expecting a superpower on another distant continent to guarantee their safety.

Time they had a wake-up call!

Indeed.

Although perhaps Vance describing him as Hitler was not actually intended to be the insult that we all assumed it must be. Vance does, after all, seem to have quite a lot of admiration for fascists.

Has Trymp been played like a fiddle? Or have we? Is he really that stupid he seems to be doing quite well for himself considering.

A statesman does the right thing for the country, regardless of his/her personal distaste or embarrassment. Starmer is a statesman, thankfully.

Foreign Aid … does anyone evaluate the effectiveness ?
UK Public are the ones being duped. It doesn’t go to help the poor. It goes right into the pockets of their gov elite so they can drive nice cars, buy overseas properties, fill etc Panama banks, send their kids to Eton & Oxford. Whilst their poor come to UK/Eur in small boats and we give them money too

That's an insightful post @LoremIpsumCici

Concerning too, but matches the thread title more than focusing on the theatre of a letter and flattery

✊🏻🤓👍🏻
Well played Kier.

Canada are playing Trump too. They managed to get him to reduce a set of tariffs last week by re announcing a set of measures they announced months ago. Everyone knows how this works.

He’s an easily manipulated idiot and world leaders have all figured this out. Putin’s been doing it since Trump’s last term

Mauritius has no empirical claim to Chagos any more than any other country has. It was bundled up in a two for 1 deal by the French and has no relationship beyond being in the same ocean. If we want to clear up colonialism the correct thing to do would be to hand it back to the Chagossians who could govern and determine its future. That’s not on the table. Instead we could offer compensation and/or British citizenship and resettlement here for those who wanted it (around 10k Chagossians so very doable). I fail to see why Mauritius, who are firmly in bed with people who hate us, should be given billions of pounds for an island they have never owned in any accepted sense of the word.

I rather think the state visit is meant to distract Trump and we Brits from the deeper currents.

Starmer is reported to have “slashed” or “defunded” foreign aid which buys us goodwill across the globe- that soft power with other nations especially in the global south which is on an upswing. This is not good.

What is even worse, those funds have been repurposed to boost defence spending because Starmer wants an “Iron Dome” (like Israel has) for the U.K.

Who developed and sells the Iron Dome mobile intercept missile launchers and kill missiles? Who owns the intellectual property for these? The USA. They aren’t going to send them to the U.K. for free like they do for Israel as part of an aid package. We are going to be paying full price plus probably a surcharge that helps fund the missiles, bits and bobs sent to Israel.

That means billions of our tax £s every year going directly into the pockets of US Arms dealers, who then give Trump his cut when they pay $ taxes on their massive profits.

So, we

• buy a brand new shiny but very expensive defensive weaponry system with a very expensive logistics tail making us more dependent on the US
• lose decades of goodwill amongst the up and coming global south
• have less defence money to go towards joint projects with the EU

Starmer has probably done this sweetheart deal to avoid the trade tariffs Trump threatened and is, in my opinion, a fool for doing so.

That very much depends how many rare minerals Ukraine actually has. If Zelenskyy's offering him half of fuck all, and playing Trump who thinks he's playing him, then good for him.

That could be pretty dire for Ukraine. The areas are assessed, US workers leave and then no security

@LadyBracknellsHandbagg I don't bother with PMQs he's far too irritating and the inability to answer a single question is beyond bothering with.

Look at Lammy as quoted below on it being stopped on Trump's say so.

It can absolutely not go ahead. So why do you want to pay billions for it over foreign aid or military. Surely loyalty to a party isn't worth that to you is it?

The thing that struck me was how the letter from King Charles was signed in a way that looked like the executive orders Trump delighted in signing and showing the press when he entered office. I don't believe that was a coincidence! It's all about mirroring things Trump likes, and of course it was perfect for holding up to show the cameras (all about the 'optics' again)!