Will Keir Starmer defy Labour and strike a deal with Donald Trump…and keep his promise of country before party?

11/10/2024 04:04 PM

DONALD TRUMP is about to show whether Sir Keir Starmer really has changed Labour.

Cast your minds back to season one of the Trump show, where, despite the President saying he had no interest in the NHS even if it was offered "on a silver platter", the party howled at the moon every time a trade deal with the United States was mentioned.

Sir Keir happily sat in a Shadow Cabinet that worked tirelessly to poison the well of public opinion against the totemic post-Brexit accord with Washington.

Endless scaremongering about selling off our beloved NHS to ghastly American corporations was peppered with fantasy tales of chlorinated chicken.

And it culminated with Jeremy Corbyn parading government papers hacked by the Russians to make his case, proving there was no low to which he would not stoop in his bid to trash our relationship with our closest ally.

Big decisions

Plenty of Labour MPs who sit behind Starmer would be far happier back in that comfort zone over adopting the PM's so far, so sensible, approach of getting close to the President-elect.

But there are big decisions hurtling towards Downing Street in the coming months that will test those MPs to the very limit.

There were few tears shed in the red corner when Joe Biden halted well-progressing US/UK Free Trade Agreement talks launched in 2019, iced under pressure from the Irish and the EU by a President willing to do their bidding.

But with rumblings of the new Trump administration hiking tariffs on US imports come January, with not even besties like Britain spared, now is the time for a big, bold and comprehensive offer to the incoming administration.

The talks should be restarted not just in the hope it might help us avoid the worst of the trade wars, but in complete good faith for the national interest.

Country before party, as the PM promised when he entered No10.

Yet even yesterday, Treasury minister Darren Jones, certainly no pinko, looked queasy at the prospect.

Asked if a US FTA should be a target of this Parliament, his instinctive response was revealing.

He told the BBC: "Well, of course, we're in negotiations with the EU on reducing trade frictions and that's important for the UK. The US is already one of our most important export partners as well in terms of direct investment here into the UK."

Something of an understatement for our No1 export market that totalled £188.2billion last year according to the Office for National Statistics.

That makes up 22.1 per cent of all our exports, almost the equivalent of our nearest neighbours Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and France COMBINED.

Putting the EU first, above the US, is throwback remainer ideology over economic hard truth.

Yes, if you add up the EU entirely it's a larger trading area, but we already have a zero-quota, zero-tariff free trade deal with the bloc.

It's in the bag, signed and up and running.

It is not an either/or choice any more. Bank that one and move on the better things.

The US market accounts for 17.6 per cent of total UK trade — £304.3billion in cash terms.

They are our largest trading partner in both goods and services.

Our largest export market and largest import market.

But there is an imbalance, with £59billion of our exports coming from physical stuff (goods), and £129.2billion from our gangbusters global skills offerings (services).

In which wiser Labour figures are quick to see the opportunities.

Aspiring US Ambassador Peter Mandelson was making the right noises this weekend when he said: "There are many industrial and technological opportunities available to us in Britain that could form part of the basis of a new economic relationship, and future digital and technological economic agreement between ourselves and the United States.

"A trade deal, yes, but a different sort of trade deal.

"Not the old-fashioned sort of free trade agreement of goods and mortar, more sort of clicks and portals in the future, I would say.

Lip service

"And I think that given the US and UK are both such advanced digital countries and economies, there is enormous scope here for us to align to and deepen the industrial and economic trade relationships across the Atlantic here."

At least someone in the Labour Party gets it. And Mandelson is backed by Nigel Farage, who is Trump's pal.

But does Sir Keir?

Instinctively a Europhile at heart, is the PM ready to upset his party and set course for America . . . or is he just playing lip service to Trump?

The UK has an incoming President far more amenable to a trade agreement than the outgoing one.

If Labour can't get real on a deal with a 163 majority to counter internal critics, will it ever?

Trump’s return stirs Whitehall

LONG before the PM was woken at the crack of dawn on Wednesday with the news Trump was back, Whitehall had been in full war-gaming mode.

Everything from Ukraine to Cabinet choices and trade wars have been chewed over endlessly.

But it's a process made a lot harder by the Don himself, who openly boasted in his 1987 smash-hit book The Art Of The Deal that his trump card is confounding the other side.

"I protect myself by being flexible," he wrote.

"I never get too attached to one deal or one approach. For starters, I keep a lot of balls in the air, because most deals fall out, no matter how promising they seem at first.

"In addition, once I've made a deal, I always come up with at least a half dozen approaches to making it work."

But there's solace for President Zelensky, who fears being forced to the peace talks table.

Trump's rule: "The best thing you can do is deal from strength."

Which sounds like a good case for continuing to arm the Ukrainians to the teeth . . .