Donald Trump’s administration has brought severe uncertainty to the world by seeking to impose tariffs not just on enemies, but on allies too. And Keir Starmer’s UK government has bowed down to this bullying by handing the US president his “first big trade deal”. Britain will now be worse off than before this tariff war, but Starmer still heaped praise onto Trump in a vomit-worthy live chat on 8 May.
Even mainstream media outlets had to recognise that the exchange was “awkward“. But the most cringeworthy part was when Starmer stooped to the level of the resident arse-kissers of Trump’s administration. The prime minister recognised that Trump expects people to massage his ego, and was happy to oblige, saying:
I want to thank you for your leadership on that, Donald
The BBC has pointed out that “this isn’t a trade deal”. It’s “only the bare bones of a narrow agreement”, which has simply “reversed or cut some of [Trump’s] tariffs on specific goods”.
The bootlicking of Trump didn’t stop there
Starmer was clearly nervous about praising Trump in the right way. And his years of questionable voice coaching didn’t help to stop his constant, uncomfortable umming and ahing. But he tried anyway, saying it was “incredibly important” and “truly historic” that the weak tariff agreement (sorry, “great deal”) came on VE Day, as if beating fascists and bending over to one were the same thing.
It was obvious Starmer wanted to use as many fawning phrases as possible, as he started off by saying:
This is a really fantastic, er, historic day in which we can announce, erm, this deal between our two great countries. And I think it’s a real tribute, erm, to, erm, the history that we have of working so closely, erm, together. Can I pay tribute, Donald, to your negotiating team as well? … they’ve done, erm, an incredible job—a very professional job.
He went on to say:
I’m so pleased that we’ve got this deal, erm. We’ve finalised it, erm, and, erm, we’ve built an incredible platform, erm, for the future. So thank you so much, erm, Donald.
And just in case we weren’t convinced, he finished by saying:
I’m really pleased, and, and it feels, er, completely historic… So Donald, thank you so much, erm. It’s really good to have got this, erm, deal over the line. A tribute to both teams, tribute to our countries, and tribute to your leadership.
Rewarding bullies rarely ends well
Starmer’s government also made news this week over a trade deal with India, whose prime minister Narendra Modi has been undermining democracy and intensifying the brutal occupation in Kashmir. Britain’s “biggest and most economically significant” deal since Brexit came just as nuclear power India attacked fellow nuclear power Pakistan. Far from showing understanding of how to foster peace between its former colonies, the UK almost seemed to be rewarding India’s far-right government for its increasing aggression.
At home, meanwhile, Labour’s right-wing leadership has (predictably) been showing no signs of willingness to change direction amid plummeting popularity and far-right successes. Rather than dealing with the party’s progressive exodus by adopting popular anti-austerity positions, Starmer’s team has continued to pander to the limited number of people on the right who would consider voting Labour. Rather than changing course, the prime minister has promised to go “further and faster down the wrong path“. This is despite a senior Reform figure saying:
The more they sing our tune, the more we win.
In short, Starmer’s Labour seems to care more about its corporate donors and keeping good relationships with fascists like Trump than on people’s wellbeing. And it’s utterly sickening to watch.
Featured image via the Canary
