The chairman (chair woman if you prefer) of the UK’s parliamentary Liaison Committee, perhaps the most powerful committee in Westminster because it has the power to summon the PM, left it a bit late … but it did a tiny bit of good today. Perhaps a big bit.
Dame Meg Hillier, chairman of the committee, asked Starmer: “You yesterday, you had a call with President Trump. Today, you’ve got a Cobra meeting about the domestic matters as the world faces these challenges, and as you’re dealing with President Trump, who does make some quite rude comments about the UK —one day, and sometimes … is supportive of the UK, it’s you who are dealing. Seems like different presidents on different days of the week. Have you got a message for the public about how you are personally facing these challenges, and how the country needs to face the challenges of the world order and the challenge to the world order?”
PM: “Yes, I’m utterly focused on what’s what’s in the best interests of our country, and I’m unapologetic about that. And notwithstanding the pressure that comes from elsewhere, I will remain laser focused on what is in the British national interest. And a lot of what is said or done is undoubtedly said and done to put pressure on me. I have no doubt about that. I understand exactly what is going on, but I’m not going to be wavering on this. I’m the British prime minister, and my job is to be absolutely focused on what’s in the British national interest that has served me well in recent weeks, and that is the principle that I’ll continue to adhere to as we go forward, taking difficult decisions, notwithstanding the pressure that comes from me from a number of different places.”
Chairman of the meeting and Labour MP Hillier
Go to a few minutes before the end.
Why Starmer’s answer is so bad:
Starmer’s answer is not immediately bad.
It’s a pretty clever deflection that sounds hugely patriotic …and that he’s been (recently) willing to stand up somewhat against President Trump.
It’s a deflection because Hillier asked for something personal and didn’t really get it. She is asking about how Trump’s shift of world power to a few strong-men national leaders and tech bros should be addressed and is being addressed personally by Starmer.
Starmer failed Hillier’s test in a few ways.
1. He immediately adopted — hook, line and sinker — Mr Trump’s selfish stance. Starmer was elected to “change” away from Tory selfishness. He has dramatically failed. “My job is to be absolutely focused on what’s in the British national interest,” Starmer said.
Well, no, prime minister … your job was to enact “change”…more justice, more equity, more help for vulnerable people and women. You have had almost two years with a proper parliamentary majority…and you got little done.
2. Starmer failed to criticise Trump’s lack of consultation with so-called allies ahead of the Iran violence and Trump’s bullying. He was too cowardly to even name Trump, even though the question required it.
3. He evidently seems to be blissfully unaware that Mr Trump could become a lame duck president later this year. Starmer has not fully tapped into the fall in public support for Trump and right-wing populist leaders, which was evidenced again in elections on the weekend in France.
4. Starmer’s most important failure was that he seems to not understand the power of the collective over bullying individuals, whether they be warmongering national leaders or censoring tech bros pushing right-wing disinformation to rig elections. A few minutes earlier, Starmer had said these words: “The UN is really important.” Yet…his “Britain first and only Britain” answer to the question about Trump shows quite clearly that Starmer does not sincerely believe his earlier sentence about the UN. It’s time for a leader of UK Labour who really understands collective action for the British people and the people of the world… rather than for the global 0.1%. Starmer is clearly not the man.
The biggest lost opportunity from today was that no one bothered to ask the simple question….”are you sex blackmailed”? Indeed during 90 plus minutes no one asked about even one Epstein file.
For more of what happened today, see this:
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