An unexpected social media post by Donald Trump set up a frantic day with a ‘pantomime’ Oval Office press conference and a backfiring attempt by Kemi Badenoch to spoil the party
Keir Starmer might have hoped for a couple of hours of peace to watch his beloved Arsenal in the Champions League semi-final on Wednesday evening.
But instead of witnessing the North London side crash out against Paris St-Germain, the PM was instead on the phone haggling with Donald Trump. After weeks of crunch talks there was a finally a breakthrough on a landmark trade deal – setting up a madcap Thursday and an Oval Office press conference branded “pantomime” by commentators.
It also, as expected, fired the starting gun on another round of Tory chaos, with leader Kemi Badenoch desperately trying to spoil the party – even as her underlings praised the deal. Conservative HQ would have watched with gritted teeth as Trump branded Mr Starmer and his team “terrific” in a bizarre joint video call which saw the purring leaders on first name terms throughout.
If the PM looked pleased with himself, it was for good reason. There was plenty at stake, with swingeing US tariffs on cars, steel and aluminum putting thousands of British jobs at risk. In a week when Mr Starmer needed some good news, the unpredictable US President came through with some big concessions.
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There had been whispers that a deal was close over the last few days, but it was the unpredictable US President who blew it wide open with an unexpected late-night update all but confirming it. He wrote on social media that it would be a “big and exciting day for the United States of America and the United Kingdom” – teasing a big announcement at 10am Washington time.
Plans for Mr Starmer’s day were quickly shredded as aides frantically set up an announcement – organising a press conference at the Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) plant in Birmingham. But such was the haste that No10 accidentally told journalists it would be in Coventry – prompting a last-minute dash across the West Midlands for hacks including The Mirror’s Mikey Smith.
What followed was highly unusual, it is fair to say. The US President’s press conference got later and later as last minute talks between the US and UK continued. And it was agreed that Mr Starmer would join the Oval Office announcement by video link.
Appearing on Sky News on Friday morning, Treasury Minister Darren Jones pushed back on the suggestion it was “cringeworthy” and a “pantomine”. Host Kamali Melbourne asked him: “Some people looked on that and cringed a little bit, it was a bit of pantomime, wasn’t it?”
The Labour frontbencher dryly responded: “Well, no. I think it’s an important part of the process.” It is hard to imagine any other US President making an announcement quite like that though.
During the press conference the two leaders exchanged glowing pleasantries, with the PM branding it a “really fantastic, historic day”. And Britain’s Trump whisperer, ambassador Lord Peter Mandelson, was glowing in his praise, referring to the President’s late call on Wednesday.
He said: “Thank you very much indeed also for that very typical 11th hour intervention by you with your phone call.. demanding even more out of this deal than any of us expected. The prime minster was delighted obviously to take that call late at night.”
Whichever way you look at it, it would have been a boost. The key takeaways were that car export tariffs will reduce from 27.5% to 10%. This will apply to a quota of 100,000 UK cars – almost the total the UK exported last year.
And the UK steel industry – which was on the brink of collapse just weeks ago – will no longer face tariffs after the Government negotiated the 25% tariff down to zero. The two nations have agreed new reciprocal market access on beef – with UK farmers given a tariff free quota for 13,000 metric tonnes.
There will be no weakening of UK food standards on imports, the Government insisted. The agreement saved thousands of jobs, the PM said, and he was clearly glad to be able to share the news with carmakers after weeks of uncertainty.
It looked like it had even gone down well in Tory circles. Shadow trade secretary Andrew Griffith said: “The reduction in tariffs announced today will be welcomed by exporting businesses.” And former Conservative minister Julian Smith wrote on Twitter/X: “Politics & details aside, today’s trade deal with the US is testament to the patient, mediation-led approach Keir Starmer & his team have taken to the US over recent months. Quiet diplomacy has led the UK to the front of the queue.”
But Ms Badenoch was not feeling so magnanimous. “It’s not historic, we’ve just been shafted!” she ranted. But elsewhere, the significance of what had been agreed did not go unnoticed.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, voiced relief that a deal had been reached on tariffs. He said: “It’s right that the government has taken urgent action to protect good quality jobs up and down the country after Trump’s arbitrary tariffs threatened to take a wrecking ball to our automotive and manufacturing sectors.
“This agreement takes us back from the brink and many workers will breathe easier as a result.”
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