Im no fan of Starmer but …

[BettyWhittaker]

I am very anti - Labour government, have never voted Labour in my life and never would and I hope an early GE is called …

BUT - AIBU to think he really couldn’t have handled Trump any better than he had? Christ the man is completely unhinged, his behaviour is getting worse and worse - AIBU to think Starmer really couldn’t have done more to handle this?

I thought his statement yesterday was pretty good. Let’s just hope the mad man gets taken out of office before he kicks off another bloody war

Different situation from you because I voted Labour and still hope they’ll get their finger out of their arse domestically 😖 but yes, I agree. There is no magic cheat code for handling Trump (unless you have kompromat on him… maybe GCHQ should get on that). We are strategically tied to the US; that’s just an awful fact. We can’t threaten him
because we cannot match the US economically or militarily. If we enrage him he is prepared to do absolutely unconscionable things. I’m really glad that Starmer is such a systematic, plodding, unexcitable type - I can’t imagine any UK politician would handle trump better, and lots would handle him much, much worse.

I agree. We need a slow plodder not someone that escalates issues. It appears we are very tied to the us whether we like it or not.

Christ the man is completely unhinged, his behaviour is getting worse and worse
You seem to be contradicting yourself. You start by saying that Starmer's handling so far is excellent but then say that Trump is getting worse. If the handling is so good shouldn't Trump be getter better?

You can't fix psychopathy.

I believe that his dear mate's latest tweet has called Starmer' s actions "GREAT STUPIDITY".
With friends like that ...

PP is not contradicting herself at all. l

By handling it well, I think people mean KS is doing the best he can with what he's got. Obviously he isn't able to cure mental illness or carry out personality transplants. However he appears to be steering us through this particular storm with some competence.

Agree. I think he’s playing a really insane situation pretty much as well as possible.

Im not fan of Keir Starmer either but hes not in charge of Donald Trump
All he can do is handle things as diplomatically as possible from the UK,s point of view so as not to further enrage him.

Yes, the general feeling among all commentators is that this is pretty much the only area where he is exceeding expectations. He did always say he preferred Davos to Westminster so it is not surprising.

It seems to me that all Starmer has done is toady up to him.

He clearly has some diplomatic skill.

I think Keir Stamner, Denmark's PM Mette Frederiksen and Denmark's minister of Minister of Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen have shown world class leadership.
I am no fan of either of them but respect they are doing an extraordinary good job.

I'm starting to think Trump is actually unwell.

It's very easy to snipe from the sidelines and proclaim confidently that "obviously" a prime minister should do X and Y in global diplomacy but actually being the one to do it is hard and stressful and fairly thankless.

Recognising the reality of the situation (the UK is small) and working with what we have got (seat on UN, historic relationships/ties) is the only sensible option so I agree he is doing a good job.

I doubt Starmer enjoys having to talk to and charm a madman. Macron has been good as well, capable of great charm and flattery of the the Orange One but pushing back politely and charmingly when needed.

Tump seems to have some sort of cognitive issue, he is only going to get worse, there is no fix.

Starmer is play the "conspirator" an "antagoniser" would only escalate matters even further.

But holding out the possibility of tariffs and other measures, also makes sure those around Trump will realise the seriousness of this latest outrage.

A senior Republican said yesterday that across Congress, there is no possibility of military action on Greenland, they will refuse the funding.

Yes, if there is one thing that unites a team, it’s a common enemy. I suspect Trump has done more to unite the UK with our former EU allies than anything else could have done. I suspect that “roles” have been handed out, eg Macron (who is at the end of his tenure) has agreed it’s easier to be a little more outspoken, while Starmer is falling back into our old EU role of being the bridge between Europe and the US

Literally said the same to DH. I’m biased as I do like Keir, but I don’t think there’s anybody better served to deal with the most dangerous person in the world right now than someone so experienced in foreign relations. Imagine if we had nasty Nigel in power right now. I dread to think.
Hopefully we will see a more sane replacement to Trump before he causes world war 3.

Lol, since when is Starmer responsible for a mad man's behaviour?

I'm just beyond fed up with politics to be honest. All politicians are slippery self serving power hungry liars. We really are all pawns on the big chessboard.

someone so experienced in foreign relations.
Starmer? Summarise it for me.

What would you have him do? Christ, use some sense (if you have any!)

How would you approach it then @senua ? I'm sure Starmer could learn from you. What would you tell Badenoch or Farage to do for that matter?

I doubt @senua has an answer, just wishes to bash Starmer. Tres dull.

I'm sorry but his statement is too soft. It's frustrating but this is the 1930s all over again - Neville Chamberlain thought that he could keep the UK out of WW2 by being nice to Hitler, and look what happened. You can't. If Trump takes Greenland what's next? Some Scottish islands? Ireland?

So whilst he is correct not to immediately knee-jerk react with tariffs himself it needs to be made clear that the US can't simply take parts of Europe that it fancies having.