Starmer did well yesterday

[oceanflow]

I mean, he was never going to magic a Trump personality transformation in the space of a couple of hours. But he walked the Trump tightrope well. I found the whole thing fascinating - particularly the contrived flattery. The mode of these US diplomatic visits now reflects the way you would visit a senile, elderly relative - any other leader would find it patronising, but it's all totally lost on Trump. The flourish if the state visit invite was hilarious. I was never a fan of Starmer particularly and thought he lacked charisma as a leader. But now I'm glad to have a leader who is about the tasks at hand, not simply his own ego. AIBU?

Yes! Thats exactly what I thought! Bloody brilliant! Well done our PM. Hands up anybody who thinks they could have done better? Poor HM though - having to host the whole Trump contingent.

I bet Charles is counting down the days.

Charles and co are well trained at dealing diplomatically and gracefully with obnoxious and offensive people. That's what we pay them for.

Yes, he did well, but only because of his secret (well deployed) weapon which is the King. Without the letter it could’ve gone quite differently.

Yes, absolutely.

It was a brilliant move. The absolute perfect way to butter up someone like Trump

Chris Mason of the BBC also did well getting Trump to backtrack on the Zelensky dictator comment.

And that's why Starmer was doing the 'light touch' to Trump's arm. Studies show that lightly touching the back of someone's hand or on their arm when you request something makes them more likely to agree to your request. Try it, it works.

Starmer's clearly had some coaching and it's worked.

Yes Chris Mason was great as well.

Yes he did. Hopefully that one can be moved on from now, for Zelenskyy’s sake.

i was interested in how both the Telegraph and the Guardian would report it!
i havent looked into it yet

I notice Farage is quiet today.

Do you really not understand why they're doing this?

The Telegraph have given a long and glowing write-up, praising the months of work that went into preparing the way for a positive visit and how Starmer handled it.

Rather unexpectedly.

Yes he did. I’ve criticised him (more often Rachel Reeves) on here several times. However, he did well given the tightrope he had to walk.

Regardless of whether you voted for him or not, what he did is to the benefit of our country. That’s the main thing. If he fails, we all fail.

I’ll read through the rest of the comments to see which PPs are digital patriots but in reality are foreign/paid agitators wishing our country to fail.

If anyone sets out to protest or sabotage the visit, I hope they know they’re doing it for their own sense of self satisfaction and not ‘for Gaza/Ukraine/poor Americans/transgender people’. The only way through this is a charm offensive unfortunately (in terms of lots of State banquets, wheeling out the Royals, pomp and pageantry). Offending Trump to assuage your own moral conscience would be extremely selfish when only by establishing a relationship and attempting to persuade him will actually result in anything good. He will not be going anywhere as POTUS so try to think long term, and not just what looks good on your social media.

This is exactly The Kings job, to charm for the benefit of our country. Otherwise what’s the point of him?

yes, it’s very difficult and he did it well.
I think in a way Starmer’s “boring personality“ played a positive role. He doesn’t care about looking impressive and important so he’s naturally ok with Trump getting this position.

Marco Rubio is thinking, “I’d better STFU if I want to stay in Trump’s cabinet and keep my senior role.” Nobody in the GOP will stand up to him at this stage.

I agree I think he did a great job.
Yes it was cringey at points, but sadly that was what was required so even more kudos to Starmer for doing it.
I have been very unhappy with Starmer so far, but he did very well here.

Indeed. If he was in charge or our US envoy he probably world have turned up in full Russian military gear and offered Trump Northern Ireland.

Completely agree.
Sometimes you just have to swallow your own wants and needs and do what's best for others. And like it or not, we need Trump onside, as does Ukraine and Europe. Its too important.

I reluctantly voted Labour last July thinking them the best of an ordinary bunch. I haven’t been impressed, especially with the terrible employer’s NI stuff.

But yesterday, I was impressed. KS knows what he’s doing. Whoever advised him on this particular topic - good work! He has knowledgeable advisers, clearly.

I just hope the UK can get something substantial out of it.

Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner. The impression in the US media is quite different to impressions some of you seem to have. Might just be some media manipulation going on. I take it that the BBC didn't show when Trump asked Starmer if the UK could take on Russia by itself and the whole Oval Office, including the press pool, laughed out loud at Starmer.

Trump gave Starmer nothing but flowery words, which he does with every leader that visits. Trump says all the lovely things and then does whatever he intended to do in the first place.

Yes 100%

Remember though, you don't get to be a DPP if you re an idiot, i expect he did an awful lot of work on this visit as well as good advisors.

Did we learn nothing from Theresa May? She completely rolled out the red carpet, arranged for Trump to hobnob with the Queen, then he subsequently completely undermined her. Trump will take the latest Royal invitation, bask in the glow, then do what he damn well pleases. To expect him to be on the side of the UK after a cordial visit is naïve.