As Andrew Rawnsley notes in the Observer this morning:
You can get most of the article from the headline. Starmer is never going to upset Trump. He is always going to claim a special relationship. And Europe, forget it, in my opinion.
So, four things follow.
We get dragged down with Trump.
Labour consigns itself to history.
We do not become an essential part of the new world order working to remove the influence of the USA, which I note Will Hutton supports, as I do.
And there is no counter-narrative to Trump's friend, Farage.
Has a more stupid man, so unable to read the runes, ever occupied No. 10? (Please note: Truss is a woman).
The answer has, I guess, got to be yes. But, not in recent times, I think.
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I agree, but Stymied is a Knight of the Realm – he will be looked after no matter what happens.
It seems that we are more than willing to buy some time talking to Trump while we develop new trading relationships and maybe organisations with other parts of the world. If this approach works, we will benefit. To further increase national security, we need to do more for ourselves, though. The last five decades have seen us move in the opposite direction. For example, we have gone from producing 80% of our food to around 42% and falling. It seems to me we lost such a critical perspective when we stopped paying attention to the need to have a health Balance of Payments. A lopsided economy is never a good idea.
Every Labour PM since WWII has championed the ‘special relationship’ with the USA which emerged at the end of WWII, the the UK elites recognised they had lost their grip on the batten of power.
A foundation of this relationship is Britain has served as America’s foremost ally in the containment of the Soviet Union. We provide ‘the unsinkable aircraft carrier’.
Starmer, like Blair, has understood and played to the old rules. A condition of the job and all he knows. Trump has changed the game. The new rules are being made. A time for flexible leaders with strong political intuition – field commanders. Starmer and his Cabinet are administrators and find themselves out of time.
Containment of Putin is not exactly high on Trump’s agenda. The emerging script is increasing looking like positioning for reshaping of the world around three spheres of influence. USA, Russia and China. The means by which the US has very successfully exploited soft power are being rapidly dismantled. Europe sits outside the American sphere. Canada and Greenland do.
The batten of power is moving….
You miss out Europe….
Trump’s America sees Europe outside it’s sphere of influence, but does not recognise the EU as it’s own sphere of influence. Europe has depended upon its transatlantic relationship for defence and prosperity and has reason to keep the US engaged. There is a range of opinion as to the approach from the pragmatists to motley crew of interests that openly champion Trump. The breakdown in trust has certainly concentrated minds. The ‘United ‘ Kingdoms it sits on the board land. Some parts and people identify as European other toward…..I’m fully expecting Trump’s UK champions to start arguing why the UK should join some sort of permanent political and monetary union with America. A logic extention of Brexit we’ll be told.
And if Starmer had to choose today; Europe or America?
What is being exposed is how far integration of the world’s economies and the transnational spread and influence the biggest corporations can effectively limit political power.
I fear Starmer might get stupid enough to consider this.
Perhaps the people will decide? Sure, many are going to vote Reform, but I think a lot of people are going to vote Green or Lib Dems. Farage isn’t an inevitability. He is disliked, and many people see through him, especially with his connections to Trump. Will Greens win much? No, but hopefully they can drag the overton window the other way a bit.
Rather positive for me. I promise I will return to being miserable soon.
🙂
The whole of the upper echelons of the Labour party must be somnambulists. Even my grandchildren know that action is needed urgently, but nothing happens. Mark Carney is showing the way, but from the UK – – nothing!
It seems that the change needed can now come only from the labour grass roots, or has weed-killer be poured over them?
In fairness (??) Starmer was chosen cos he is a-political, someone who could be moulded wrt UK politics. Given his DPP stint, I guess he had his own ideas on UK – US “relationships”. I’d hazard a guess that the assumption is, calm will return once Mango-man is gone/no point in upsetting the apple cart now. Perhaps the best way forward is to ignore Mango as much as possible. If Starmer condemned Mango I could imagine the expensively bought F35s being erm… “switched off”.
Best way? focus on joining EU efforts to produce European weapons systems and exclude US companies from all such projects. Make Britain Great Again (MBGA?) not quite MAGA but Mango-man can hardly complain – suace for the goose etc & reforge links with the old “Commonwealth”. Mango offers a chance for the UK to finally detach itself from the poisonous embrace of the USA, time to do so.
He could do a duality
Even the US would not be surprised
I am not particularly interested in the rhetoric…. just policy. It might be satisfying to slag off Trump but what does it achieve?…. and it might just make things worse. What I want to see is…
1) No concessions to the US in terms of product quality/safety
2) No concessions on tech taxation
3) Talks with the EU to promote free trade (yes, Single Market entry MUST be the aim).
4) Support for Canada’s position.
All these can and should be done without a song and a dance.
But Farage cannot be beaten without aligining him with Trump and that requires differentiation.
My father said “never wrestle with a chimneysweep”. Farage is superior to Starmer in every regard when it comes to media appearances and management. We have 4 years to a General Election so Starmer should ignore Farage and get on with delivering improved public services. (Of course this is the problem; without abandoning foolish tax and fiscal rule promises it cannot be done….. but this is what matters).
I think Clive Parry’s is the voice of reason here. Thank goodness somebody seems to have thought through the potential disaster Trump could visit on us simply “because he can”.
I’m no fan of Starmer. We need far more progressive policies as we approach the next General Election. Maybe they’ll come and maybe not. However, with the Tories or Farage we’d only be offered some version of Trump-Lite – even more disastrous than the horror show of the last 14 years. Let nobody forget what a God-awful mess the other Parties have made of this country over the last decade. Hammering Starmer can only give us back the Tories or, even worse, Farage – as we should have learned when all and sundry hammered Corbyn and gave us Boris Johnson. Johnson! I ask you… And please don’t try to “explain” how Corbyn would have been so much worse than Johnson. This has always been a serious blog for serious people.
Re the Single Market etc, I would only comment that talks to that end should sensibly avoid using the words SINGLE MARKET or CUSTOMS UNION. Most reasonable people know what will benefit our economy and clouding the issues by raising the spectre of all those Brexit hot topics would not be helpful. A new inspirational name for any new UK/EU agreement is a must. But I’m not holding my breath. Charismatic strategic, communication has not so far been a Labour strength.
And as I see it, Farage has already tainted his brand irrevocably by his well-documented, highly-publicised proximity to Trump. As Trump’s popularity plummets, as it surely must if things carry on getting worse because of his seemingly endless supply of disastrous ideas, Farage’s star must surely wane as well.
Thank you very much for presenting us with commonsense with respect to Nigel Farage.
A serious approach to dealing with the matter of Farage and his Reform “entity” would begin with an analysis of the circumstances that give rise to the support is is claimed to command. Yet do I see such an effort being made by the current Labour High Command? No, not at all, because to address such a matter would be to abandon their role of ensure of continuity in our current crumbling political and economic situation.
At no point do I expect them to wake up to reality.
It’s one thing to promise and bang on about “change”, but another matter entirely to actually mean it and set out to deliver it when it goes against ones real purpose.
Well yes Starmer is stupid as are his cabinet. These days I have a ‘bring back Boris’ thought – which is pretty unwise but I honestly believe Starmer is worse. He is ruthless and determined – but has the wrong set of policies. He is laying the groundwork for Reform UK.
It would be a very unlikely revolution among the elite to decide to extract us from the ‘special relationship’ of being the ‘vassal state’ . Neither the two main parties would do that – controlled as they are by those wielding power.
It would have to happen not by political choice but by the reality of economic pressures.
Richard may be right – Starmer on ‘the bridge’ of the tiny , ‘BriTanic’ as it sinks beneath the waves of the Atlantic.
Interesting times. I agree with Andrew Broadbent’s comment that any politucal alliance with the USA would be secondary to an economic one. Hence choosing Mandelson as Starmer’s US ambassador. Rupert Murdoch has wanted to destroy the EU Project ever since the UK joined. There are many global oligarchs and CEOs who find the EU’s economic democratic socialism a hindrance to their profiteering who align with him. He still owns the political mass media narrative in the UK. I am waiting to see how he manipulates Irish America in the political issue of Irish unification in order to economically hogtie it to a 51st state UK. Ireland, with Dublin’s strong links to global finance, and military neutrality is a potential hostage to fortune as a Trojan horse to be used politically against the EU by such pro oligarch players.
If Trump has done one good thing it is to reveal the inadequacy and fragilty of the financial system that we all rely upon, a trust based system is now dependent upon a man, and one has to say a country, that no-one can trust.
And this at a time when AI is set to revolutionise our understanding of social relations, when the key target must be to gain social control of the emerging technocarcy.
It is a time for big ideas and unfortunately we have a lawyer setting the agenda, a man who looks to what is rather tan what should be.
At some stage British and American participation in the Gaza genocide might be acted on by the International Criminal Court.
Our ‘independent’ nuclear weapons must play a part in this reluctance to distance ourselves from Trump.
If the US refused us permission to use them we’d be … oh, wait, we wouldn’t be anything because they’re useless. But we think we’d be screwed if that happened. Instead, we’re screwed now. Funny old world.
We should ditch the “special relationship”
TIME TO CUT THE USA ADRIFT
https://theleftlane2024.substack.com/p/end-the-illusion-ditch-the-uks-special
The UK-US “Special Relationship” is certainly special, but not in the way that British politicians would like to think. Britain is an idiotic and subservient poodle. It has been so since at least the 1950s and the Suez crisis. When the US allowed the UK to have an “independent” nuclear deterrent in the early 1960s, it was made clear that the US would have the final say on “pushing the button” – NOT the UK government.
I’m continually surprised that we don’t have more politicians in the UK prepared to call out this total BS for what it is. Jeremy Corbyn is pretty much the only one. The Green Party should be pointing out again and again that British foreign policy is a total lie.
Is Starmer a complete idiot? Maybe, or maybe he’s a clever man who behaves like an idiot. In the end it may not matter that much.
Much to agree with
Starmer, isn’t brave, foolish, reckless, obstinate, charismatic, driven which are some of the qualities great leaders have.
He has been made for this role and conditioned for running the UK like it was stuck in the late 1990s.
His caution may pay off but it didn’t work for Macdonald or Baldwin in the 1930s another time of huge international upheaval.
It would be unwise to expect too much from Starmer who has probably been briefed on all the UK weaknesses re the US and can see only one credible course for party and country: continued subservience while of course claiming otherwise.
PS
Do we still have a working Traitors Gate?
I’d say he’s taken substantially more that the biscuit. I’ve rarely been so disappointed ….