The gold standard of interaction between British Prime Ministers and US presidents is not, alas, a historical one. It isn’t Winston Churchill and FDR signing the Atlantic Charter. It isn’t Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan clowning around on golf buggies, preaching the gospel of liberty and showing the Soviets what they were missing.
It isn’t even Tony Blair’s craven poodling to George Bush, the bloody consequences of which remain a by-word of humiliation in both nations.
Instead, it is the press conference given by Hugh Grant and Billy Bob Thornton in Love Actually. It is a superb film – Mrs Atkinson rewatches it every Christmas – and the moment at which Grant sticks it to his Yankee equivalent is a personal highlight.
After the president has shown him up both politically and romantically, Grant realises he will take no more and stands up for Britain. “We may be a small country”, , he intones, “but we’re a great one too”, before listing a set of national achievements up to and including David Beckham’s feet. A “friend who bullies us is no longer a friend”. Audience cheers.
Alas, Keir Starmer’s meeting with Donald Trump today was about as far from that ringing demonstration of national self-confidence as one could get. The two leaders met at Trump’s Turnberry golf course in Scotland, where he is currently holding court like a visiting Oriental potentate.
Even if things had previously been remarkably rosy between our puce-faced progressive PM and the resplendent tangerine leader of the free world, this meeting was an exercise in embarrassment.
Trump chose to give Starmer unsolicited advice on how to beat Nigel Farage: cut taxes, clamp down on crime, and slash immigration. All common sense, but hardly what Labour backbenchers want to hear. The president also explained how American farmers have been driven to suicide by levies on farmland estates – hardly what the Prime Minister needed following his disastrous, cruel, and fiscally negligible assault on the nation’s farmers.
Trump also labelled Sadiq Khan a “nasty person”, and claimed the London Mayor was doing “a terrible job” – rather awkward for Starmer, who pointed out that Khan is a friend of his.
The gold standard of interaction between British Prime Ministers and US presidents is not, alas, a historical one. It isn’t Winston Churchill and FDR signing the Atlantic Charter. It isn’t Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan clowning around on golf buggies, preaching the gospel of liberty and showing the Soviets what they were missing.
It isn’t even Tony Blair’s craven poodling to George Bush, the bloody consequences of which remain a by-word of humiliation in both nations.
Instead, it is the press conference given by Hugh Grant and Billy Bob Thornton in Love Actually. It is a superb film – Mrs Atkinson rewatches it every Christmas – and the moment at which Grant sticks it to his Yankee equivalent is a personal highlight.
After the president has shown him up both politically and romantically, Grant realises he will take no more and stands up for Britain. “We may be a small country”, , he intones, “but we’re a great one too”, before listing a set of national achievements up to and including David Beckham’s feet. A “friend who bullies us is no longer a friend”. Audience cheers.
Alas, Keir Starmer’s meeting with Donald Trump today was about as far from that ringing demonstration of national self-confidence as one could get. The two leaders met at Trump’s Turnberry golf course in Scotland, where he is currently holding court like a visiting Oriental potentate.
Even if things had previously been remarkably rosy between our puce-faced progressive PM and the resplendent tangerine leader of the free world, this meeting was an exercise in embarrassment.
Trump chose to give Starmer unsolicited advice on how to beat Nigel Farage: cut taxes, clamp down on crime, and slash immigration. All common sense, but hardly what Labour backbenchers want to hear. The president also explained how American farmers have been driven to suicide by levies on farmland estates – hardly what the Prime Minister needed following his disastrous, cruel, and fiscally negligible assault on the nation’s farmers.
Trump also labelled Sadiq Khan a “nasty person”, and claimed the London Mayor was doing “a terrible job” – rather awkward for Starmer, who pointed out that Khan is a friend of his.