With Donald Trump being sworn in at the US Capitol, Keir Starmer has become Prime Minister in name only. For the first time in political history, a sitting US President could, in effect, govern two countries – not only leading the United States but essentially running the UK, too, thanks to Starmer’s stunning ineptitude.
The Prime Minister’s approval ratings are worse than any of his counterparts, except for Sir John Major in 1992 with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and Kemi Badenoch’s benefiting.
Until Starmer’s own party removes him, or an early general election puts Reform UK or the Conservatives in charge, Trump will effectively have to hold Starmer’s hand and govern the country for him.
Foreign policy
Trump’s inner circle is already flexing its muscles over UK foreign policy. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called on the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary to hit the brakes on the Chagos Islands deal, which is still a British territory.
The Americans fear that it’s a gift-wrapped present for the Chinese and are calling for closer scrutiny before proceeding any further.
And let’s be clear: this deal won’t go ahead without Trump giving the green light. The delay in signing the Chagos deal demonstrates clearly that it is the American President who’s running the show – not the British Prime Minister, and to be fair, Trump and his team have had no choice given the threat to national security that the deal could pose the US.
Trump could in effect govern two countries as Starmer is stunningly inept, writes Keir Starmer
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Trade
The 47th President will soon be calling the shots on UK trade, and honestly, it might be a godsend given Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ dreadful handling of the economy so far. But make no mistake: Starmer won’t be leading the UK economy – President Trump will.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. The US economy, the world’s largest, accounts for 22 per cent of all UK exports. In 2023 alone, Britain enjoyed a staggering £71billion trade surplus with the United States – a 14 per cent increase from 2022. But Trump, never one to let a “bad deal” slide, won’t let this continue under his new administration.
Starmer knows it, and if he doesn’t toe the line and renegotiate, Trump will hit the UK with big tariffs-a threat government departments are already worried about and planning for.
This Prime Minister, still reeling from a damaging exchange last year with the CBI over National Insurance hikes, can’t survive another fight, he’s already out of political capital six months into his premiership.
If Starmer gets this wrong, expect Britain’s business leaders – already struggling in tough economic conditions – to pile pressure on his government that could make his current perilous position as Prime Minister untenable.
Energy
As expected, the man who made America energy independent during his first term in the White House has wasted no time taking aim at Starmer’s green ambitions for Britain.
Trump has already fired a warning shot across the bow of the Prime Minister over the UK’s North Sea policies, branding the government’s green agenda a “very big mistake.” Angry that Texan oil giant Apache is pulling out of the North Sea following a hike in windfall taxes by this Labour government.
Trump’s notorious “drill, baby, drill” mantra is alive and well, and it’s headed straight for Britain’s shores. His rhetoric will undoubtedly crank up pressure on Downing Street, potentially forcing yet another policy U-turn. This is just the tip of the iceberg when we look at the amount of control that Trump will exert on Starmer and his government.
Give Trump 12 months, and he will rewrite vast swathes of this dreadful Labour manifesto. In the coming days, weeks and months, Starmer will come to regret not fostering closer ties with the incoming Trump administration, making Lord Mandelson the UK Ambassador to the US shows how bad Starmer is at politics and that he can’t read the room.
Starmer may be Prime Minister, but he’s going to feel like he’s leader of the opposition all over again now Trump has returned to the Oval Office.