By throwing his arms around Volodymyr Zelensky while keeping the White House on side, Keir Starmer has shown admirable leadership. The Prime Minister was, rightly, absolutely crystal-clear that Britain will not abandon Ukraine despite his new-found, and unlikely, bromance with Donald Trump.
After the appalling scenes in the Oval Office, where the US president’s nauseating humiliation of a war hero horrified most Britons, the symbolism of hugging Zelensky close before sending him off for an audience with the King was clear for all.
Zelensky was “moved” by the cheering crowds who turned out for him at the weekend. Starmer made a point of saying the Ukrainian president personally has the UK’s “unwavering support” after claims he must quit to make Trump happy.
But the Prime Minister insisted the UK “will never choose” between either side of the Atlantic as he maintains relations with Washington. Both Starmer and Zelensky’s Oval Office appearances highlight just how dramatically international diplomacy has been turned on its head.
Traditionally, the “warm words” chats in front of the cameras are carefully scripted and last a matter of minutes before reporters are dragged from the room – something I can testify to after being physically manhandled out on more than one occasion. But with Trump in charge, decades of convention have been thrown out in favour of diplomacy in the format of a high-stakes reality television show.
The human response to the way Zelensky was treated by Trump and his vice president JD Vance would be to tell the US to stick their trade deal where the sun don’t shine and rescind the invitation of a state visit. But America has always been our closest ally and the unpleasant incident cannot and should not derail that.
British diplomats raced to cool tempers afterwards and Starmer has, so far, managed to maintain relations with both sides. The domestic mess Starmer has inflicted on the country he leads remains and cannot be undone by a week of diplomatic wins.
A stagnating economy, employers in despair at tax hikes, pay rises and extra red tape, farmers pushed to the brink, private school closures, the list goes on. But even the Scottish nationalists realise that, at a time of international crisis, it is vital for the country to unite.
The party’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, a political drive-by shooting merchant, badly misfired when he went for the PM. After the White House debacle, he accused the PM of being weak and tweeted: “Starmer had better get back up off his knees and revoke that offer of a state visit.” But a senior SNP insider said the comments were “aggressive”, adding: “You don’t f****** divide over this stuff.”
Kemi Badenoch showed Flynn how it should be done, in Commons exchanges with the PM. The Conservative leader said that while there are many areas where they disagree “now is the time to talk about where we do agree”.
Badenoch has called for defence spending to hit 3% of GDP by 2029 and told the Prime Minister she will support him in taking the “difficult decisions” to make that happen. But Badenoch also warned that Starmer must come up with details of his plan for peace-keeping troops. Support at a time of international crisis should be full-throated but cannot be unquestioning.
Starmer rightly cut the foreign aid budget – often spent on ludicrous projects in countries that have wealth but chose not to spend it on their poor – to ramp up defence spending.
But the flatlining economy means 2.5% of GDP is not worth as much in cash terms as it should be. Economic growth is vital if the Government is serious about taking us out of peacetime and putting us on a pre-war footing, so the assault on business must stop. Trump may have backed Starmer on his plan to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, but it does not mean it is a good plan.
The PM has also been cagey about where the billions of pounds to pay Mauritius for the privilege of using the key UK-US airbase is going to come from, leading to claims it will be taken from the extra defence spending, which would be farcical. The plan is a costly and strategic error that should be reversed.
If Starmer wants to prove he is serious, he will also look to make significant cuts from the bloated welfare bill and Ed Miliband’s costly hobby horse, GB Energy.
As the Prime Minister said himself, this is not a moment for more talk, it is time to act.