As The Guardian reports this morning:
Donald Trump has made a trade deal with the UK a second-order priority, sources have told the Guardian, hampering British attempts to meet their mid-May deadline.
US officials have decided to split their negotiations with more than a dozen other countries into three phases, with the UK being placed in either phase two or three, according to people who have been briefed on the talks.
All of Rachel Reeves' efforts in dashing to Washington did, then, go to waste.
So, too, did that invitation to a tyrant from the King.
Come to that, Starmer has been hung out to dry, after all his talk of the 'special relationship'.
The States won't even give us a clear steer on where we are in the queue for a trade deal, except that we are a long way from the front.
Special relationship? Who is kidding who?
It's time Starmer and Reeves cut the crap and talked about the reality of our relationship with the US, which is toxic. Then we might just begin to have a foreign policy that makes sense on a great many issues.
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I think the next step for the Trump regime regarding the UK will be installing a sympathetic government, and so will back Reform and try to undermine Labour. How a government could get more sympathetic than Labour I’m not sure. I don’t think Trump is really paying attention to his vassal state, he’s just going through the plan. And he only notices those who defy him.
The US backing for Reform will be enormous.
It already is.
And, given that Reform is merely the latest incarnation of the “populist oligarch preservation party”, it has been going on for a long time.
Others have mentioned Cambridge Analytica etc. – the work of which is now openly and very effectively carried out by the mainstream social media outlets and their algorithms.
“The US backing for Reform will be enormous.”
NO! Donald Trump’s backing for Reform will be enormous!
Please do NOT confuse the two as they are NOT the same thing.
Most people in the USA have no interest in UK politics unless they are of relatively recent Irish or Scottish descent then they are concerned primarily with Ireland and Scotland.
Most people in the USA could not tell you who the current Chancellor of Germany is or who is currently President of Mexico.
More people are aware of Farage because he “beat-up” on Meghan & Harry than because he is CEO of Reform. In the media his take-down of the Sussexes was carried on YouTube, Entertainment Tonight and then by the USA trashy tabloids that are only sold in grocery stores at the checkout line. If you self-checkout then you probably missed any news on Lord Farquhar. Six out or ten people in the USA could not tell you who or what Farage/Reform even is.
Footnote: There are trashy USA tabloids, sold only in grocery stores, that cover nothing but the UK Royal Family. I actually bought one out of guilt one time.
Big tech will be backing hinm though…
Might the W.W. 2 “Special Relationship” havé ended at Bretton Woods apart from, perhaps, the collusion between Mr Reagan and Mrs Thatcher to promote Neoliberalism?
Any discussion of the “special relationship” (vassal status) between Thatcher & Regan has to include the invasion of Grenada.
(Warning, vested interests, misinformation and confusion abound in any discussion of Grenada.)
I have come to the conclusion that the special relationship is purely a military relationship. The US treats British military bases as their own. In exchange the British get access to US military equipment which no other country does. All talk of shared history, politics, economics, culture are all contingencies and subject to change. I think with George Bush junior it became obvious that the special relationship means nothing else but a military alliance. With Trump as president, it is clear there is no special relationship with Britain. Only economic agreements (including military procurement contracts), which will be broken at a time when it is beneficial to Trump.
With regards to the populace of the USA, most white YANKS consider themselves of English descent even though most of these people have more German blood than English blood.
Also, with regards to the populace of the USA, the extent of admiration, respect or just plain “liking” of QEII cannot be underestimated with respect to a “Special Relationship”. Chucky III and Willy Wales do not have the same gravitas as QEII.
Strange, how following Brexit ,the Leavers dream of replacing trade with the EU with the USA has never materialised.
Why? US politicians are not that keen, even with UK politicians being prepared to be allow the UK to be screwed by the USA.
Churchill invented the “special relationship” to stay the right side of the USA after WW2.
But can we expect anything resembling ” clarity” from no steer Keir on this? No.
Will the main stream media and the City continue to bang on about the trade deal with the USA? Of course it’s perceived as their golden financial goose. Just for them , not the rest of the UK population.
I hope it’s true that US politicians aren’t keen on a UK trade deal, and not just that they haven’t yet been offered what they want, i.e. the export of a US style health care system and farming standards.
The NHS is being readied for transferring into US health insurance companies – the dissolution of NHS England and reinforcing the role of ICBs whilst cutting their budgets so that they can only deliver “what can be afforded” is the last step on teh way.
“US politicians are not that keen,”
Even Obama told the “English” it would be difficult and take a great deal of time (5-7 years) as the USA (under Obama) did not want to mess up or cause friction with the USA relationship with the EU. Plus USA agricultural could not be sidelined in any trade deal and would have to be a leading component of any deal negotiated and signed. Under Obama, the leading sticking point was agricultural.
Obama also said “there is no special relationship”, the political elite should have listened.
And perhaps most importantly lets not forget the Olympic scale LYING on this subject. From Vance, from Trump himself and from whoever their trade secretary is (I forget as they seem to use anyone who happens to be around at the time). And Trump, of course.
These people are not to be trusted – PERIOD (as they say in the US). They take their lead from Trump and say whatever they think he wants to hear.
So for example, on Tuesday Hegseth (the Defense Secretary!!!!!) abolished a women in the military programme that he said was ‘woke’ and set up by Biden – when in fact it was set up in 2017 by Trump, with his support, and the sponsors were: ‘Lidle’ Marco Rubio, in the Senate, Christi ‘Barbie Doll’ Noem in Congress, and Mike Walz (now Trump’s Security Adviser), as the person Chairing the committee from which the scheme came.
And yet not a peep from any of them. You seriously couldn’t make this shite up.
So, please ANY POLITICIAN IN ANY GOVERNMENT IN THE WORLD – pay attention. These people lie, and lie and lie. They’re all grifters or sycophants – or in Trumps case, a pathological liar, – so nothing they say is worth the air they breath it into (and that’s an insult to air).
Much to agree with
“These people lie, and lie and lie. They’re all grifters or sycophants – or in Trumps case, a pathological liar, – so nothing they say is worth the air they breath it into (and that’s an insult to air).”
and the USA electorate is wide awake, sitting up eating solid food and taking notice!
Nothing can happen (the electorate) or will happen (the Trump Administration) until 2026 mid-term elections unless Putin really goes off the rails even further and forces “The USA Government” to do something. The current administration is 90% bluster and hot air.
China is just sitting back and laughing.
Tampa, do you think Trump and co will ‘allow’ the mid terms? They’ll get slaughtered and loose both the House and Senate, and if that happens impeaching Trump will be easy – even after the Supreme Court made him untouchable on certain actions.
So there must be plans to stop the mid terms – or rig them. I’ve suggested on several occasions on here (and elsewhere) that they’ll be some excuse to implement martial law, or some combination of that and other actions. Of course, these must be very secret at this point. But the likes of Bannon and others of similar ilk have said as much. Anyway, by the winter I’ve no doubt we’ll start to see indications of what the plans are.
I agree with you, Ivan
Reform is the billionaire’s proxy party pretending to be the party of the ‘Common Man’.
Cambridge Analytica was funded by the same sources.
Another from me related to this subject. Starmer and co should all be forced to watch this segment from Rachel Maddow’s programme last night. It concerns a case that a fair number of OSINT people were picking up on earlier in the day but, Rachel has now put it forward as her definitive example of Trumps first hundred day in office.
It concerns cruelty, fear, intimidation, theft, and on and on – all features of extreme fascist administrations by a strange coincidence. And it concerns not immigrants (because oh, how we all hate them and nobody really cares about what a government might do to them do they) but US citizens.
Watch and be shocked to the core: https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
The segment is the second from the top: ‘ American mother, daughters, terrorised…’
National interest or not, how any politician on earth – apart from fellow dictators – can tolerate Trump and his acolytes I have no idea.
Thanks
I have seen that one
I seem to recall President Obama saying in the lead up to the Brexit referendum that the UK would be far from the front of the trade deal queue if Brexit occurred and certain UK politicians were outraged at his supposed “interference” in the vote. Yet nine years later and there seems about as much chance of seeing a trade deal with the US as there is of spotting a unicorn. And all the while the mainstream media still allows these same politicians airtime to peddle their lies without challenge. Farage, for example, maintained we would “take back control “ without once being challenged over who was taking back control of what. Now he seems quite content to kiss Trump’s ‘ass’. More depressingly, come the weekend he is likely to be doing the rounds of the tv studios proclaiming his Reform ‘party’ to be the future of the UK. And all the while Starmer dances to his tune and talks of somehow resetting the relationship with the EU whilst maintaining that a trade deal with the US is just round the corner. I despair.
See my comment above on this matter.
I’m relieved to hear no trade deal with the US is on the cards just yet. Can our silly government now concentrate on dealing with the EU and other countries? The US is not (under its current president) fit even to have talks with.
“It’s time Starmer and Reeves cut the crap and talked about the reality of our relationship with the US” …….disagree ref talk about it publicly,
“which is toxic” – agree.
The Uk is dealing with a US admin populated by grifters and liars. I have little regard for Starmer (& even less for Reeves) but I will give the man the benefit of the doubt and assume that he recognises the reality of what he is dealing with. This leaves the open question: what to do such that the grifters & liars don’t start throwing their toys around? The “relationship” consists of several elements: military (industrial), finance (the influence of US financial orgs/companie) and soft (the influence of orgs that provide advice/influence – e.g. Mckinsey). A sensible 1st step would be to gradually detach UK Ltd from USA Inc. e.g. no more contracts from insulting companies like McKinsey, gradual restrictions on US financial orgs (how to do that without triggering alarms?). In the military case, detachment is alread taking place. As always, the devil is in the detail & US corporates are like a virus which has since the 1980s inflitrated the Uk at many levels. Perhaps we need a UK Inquisition – “where do your loyalities lie”? – UK state and its well being or?? ..Desparate times, desparate remedies. One thing for sure, Deform/Farage are enemies of the UK state & need to be portrayed as such.
As for Starmer, I also question his loyalties ref the on-going Gaza gencoide and the mindless support for israel – a country far far away in which the UK has zero interest of any sort whatsoever. & to ram this point home, distances London – various capitals: Kiev, 2000, Warsaw 1500, Berlin 1000. ………….Jerusalem 3600.
They won’t ditch McKinsey, because they have been central to ‘advising’ on the NHS for years now. Just as UnitedHealth are firmly embedded, with the former head of their UK subsidiary, Samantha Jones, now Permanent Secretary at the Dept of Health and Social Care. These US companies are already helping to deconstruct our health system – trade deal or no trade deal, and Trump madness or not. I think we need to recognise the reality that our politicians are so tied up with US companies and agendas that they will struggle even to imagine the alternatives.
Meanwhile we bomb Ÿemen in cooperation with our allies and assist the Israeli genocide with our reconnaissance flights. Shameful.
I am a Canadian who came to the UK in 1961. I soon started to hear about this special relationship with the US and I could not work out why the British thought the US even knew of such a relationship. I have never been enamoured of the US although, having flown nuclear bombers in the RAF for 21 years, I could understand the importance of the US military in Europe and the RAF’s commitment of its bomber force to SACEUR. At that level, it was perhaps ‘special’.
There was never any proof of a special relationship, which since WW2 caused considerable delusion with British politicians of any party. Our future was and continues to be in Europe. This not only for trade but cultural. Let’s get back in!
Who was it who remarked that the only ‘special relationship’ in Washington was with Israel?
According to Michael Hudson ‘Super Imperialism: The Origin and Fundamentals of U.S Dominance’ (2003, 2nd Ed) pp. 133-135 President Truman was advised by a pro-Irish Leo Crowley (from Irish Catholic stock) to end lend lease immediately at the end of hostilities in August 1945, when others in his administration had advocated a tapered reduction. This cessation of support was without agreement – just imposed out of the blue and caused the UK government huge problems.
How an earth the arses in our politics can talk of a ‘special relationship’ is beyond me. Unless they are comparing it to the one that a pimp has with one of his/its charges.