Why Starmer must stand up to Trump at crucial G7 summit
There may not be enough maple syrup in Canada to sugar coat any diplomatic misstep by Keir Starmer as he joins arguably the most important international summit of his premiership so far.
The last time the word 'Canada' passed the prime minister's lips on a trip to North America, it caused a diplomatic storm with one ally even as he was carefully trying to get another one on side.
This weekend, the prime minister joins fellow leaders from the world's biggest economies - including Donald Trump - for the G7 summit in Alberta.
While the leaders, hosted by recently reelected Canadian PM Mark Carney, will discuss a number of issues, top of the real agenda will be the hot topics of US tariffs, the war in Ukraine and now the combustible situation in the Middle East with Israel's America-backed attacks on Iran.
Starmer - with his soft approach to dealing with Trump - will be hoping that he can stay on course to get the trade deal the two announced to great fanfare over the line.
The UK prime minister will also be trying to edge Trump towards a tougher approach to Ukraine and avoid him ditching the Aukus submarine agreement with the US, UK and Australia.
All this requires a careful balance of egos - particularly that of the man from the White House. Trump is at his first summit since being ousted from office in 2020.
But the added picante to this summit is the overhang of a diplomatic incident Sir Keir inadvertently caused the last time he was asked about the status of Canada in the presence of President Trump.
Back in March, at the White House press conference, the prime minister was pressed by The Independent's White House correspondent, Andrew Feinberg, on Trump's (ongoing) plans to turn Canada into the 51st state.
Just hours after Sir Keir had handed Trump an invitation from the King for a state visit to the UK in the Oval Office, it seemed only fair to ask about the status of another part of Charles III's sovereign realms on the US border.
The prime minister, desperate to be Trump's best pal, at the time, tried to laugh it off.
He said: 'Look, we had a really good discussion, a productive discussion... you mentioned Canada, I think you are trying to find a divide between us that doesn't exist, we are the closest of nations. We didn't discuss Canada.'
To say the failure to stand up for Canadian sovereignty did not go down well in the Commonwealth country is an understatement.
Among a series of angry and disobliging quotes was one from retired Canadian ambassador Artur Wilczynski.
He noted: 'Starmer's refusal to come to Canada's defence in front of Trump is more than disappointing. Canadians died for the UK by the tens of thousands. He could have opened his bloody mouth to speak up for us.'
But the incident - likely to come up as an issue again with Trump next week - highlighted the near-impossible situation he has in dealing with the US President.
Waving off the problems of the UK's Canadian cousins was perhaps a price worth paying if it meant goint from Obama's 'back of the queue' for a trade deal to the front of the line for Trump.
Unfortunately, even though it was announced to great fanfare, the trade deal with the US still has not come into effect.
Just on Thursday, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds was telling journalists in Parliament's Press Gallery lunch about his frantic calls to keep the negotiations moving.
Worse still, the zero tariffs that Sir Keir thought he had won on steel could soon turn into 50 per cent tariffs if issues are not resolved soon after Trump increased his levies.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is showing outright hostility to the UK for arguably doing the right thing in sanctioning extremists in the Israeli government.
Surrounded by other allies including the EU, Germany and France, Sir Keir will need to carefully balance his approach, especially if Trump gets tetchy again.
For those of us who have been around a bit, we all remember the last time Trump arrived for a G7 summit in Canada in 2018 and the utter chaos it unleashed.
Sir Keir could do well to call former prime minister, Baroness Theresa May, for advice on how to handle it, because this G7 is a case of deja vu.
Trump infamously arrived late but was persuaded to sign a communique of the event hosted by the then-Canadian PM Justin Trudeau after he was surrounded by fellow leaders led by the then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
In the process, the US president managed to insult the then-Japanese prime minister, the late Shinzo Abe, suggesting he would send 25 million Mexicans to Japan to teach him about migration issues.
Things only got worse when he left early to fly to Singapore to meet North Korean despot Kim Jong Un.
A fed-up Mr Trudeau said of Trump: "Canadians are polite and reasonable but we will also not be pushed around."
Trump's ego was hurt and his swift rebuke was to accuse Trudeau of acting "meek and mild" during meetings, only to attack the US at a news conference, and order his team to unsign the communique he had agreed to support in response.
When she was asked by The Independent 's Kate Devlin (then of the Sunday Express) in the subsequent press conference about whether Brits would be pushed around, Baroness May characteristically suggested Brits were 'strong and stable' - a phrase which provided the epitaph for her tumultuous premiership.
She was, though, at a time somewhat traumatised by her Brexit negotiations with the EU and the political upheaval it caused in the UK.
The lessons of the present and the past should act as a warning for Sir Keir to prepare for complete disarray and to expect anything.
But, given recent criticism of his leadership style, he may want to be less robotic in his responses than Baroness May and might want to avoid selling out Canada again.
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Daily Mail
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- Daily Mail
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Pictured: Migrants set off aboard a small boat from the beach at Gravelines The findings sparked outcry from MPs last night, with Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp slamming the French response as 'completely useless'. It is thought that well over 1,000 migrants are currently squatting in squalid camps around Calais and Dunkirk, waiting to take advantage of the calm summer seas to set sail for Britain. The Mail on Sunday found hundreds of men, women and children gathering around the town of Grande-Synthe, a suburb to the west of Dunkirk. Here they have established a self-sufficient commune akin to the notorious Calais 'jungle' that was shut down in 2016. Makeshift cafes feed dozens of hungry mouths, and barbers ply their trade. But these ramshackle settlements have also seen escalating violence between desperate migrants and callous people smugglers. 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Wearing a blue hoodie and white baseball cap, the trafficker, who gave his name as Mamand, said he had boats up to 32ft long that could take around 55 migrants across the Channel at a cost of £1,270 each (€1,500) – meaning he could be pocketing up to £70,000 per trip. To aid his faltering English, Mamand used a cigarette lighter to illustrate how his boats slipped past beach patrols before being escorted to English waters by French maritime 'security'. Pictured: Migrants set off from Gravelines This is less than half what it often costs during winter, with the discounted price most likely due to the greater amount of business smugglers can do in fair weather. Smiling, he said the French police posed 'no problem' to his criminal enterprise. 'We send one boat, maybe the police take,' he said. 'But we take another [at the same time]. We send. We do not stop.' 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At about 5am on Wednesday, we watched on as a boat overloaded with migrants sailed from Gravelines beach – around 12 miles west of Dunkirk – where ten gendarmes stood idly by, either powerless or unwilling to stop them. At one point, a naval vessel sped towards the dinghy as it appeared to struggle in choppy waters. But once it seemed safe, the French boat turned back and left it on its way. The dinghy was one of six boats carrying 400 migrants that arrived in England that day. French police say their hands are tied by maritime law, which means they are not allowed to intercept boats once they are in the water for safety reasons. On Wednesday morning another tactic was on display. While migrants gather at designated beachheads, smugglers launch their dinghies from a secret location elsewhere on the coast without passengers. 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Fundamentally, by the time migrants reach Calais, they're in England. It might take them 20 attempts to get here, but they're not going anywhere else because they have so much help, not just from people traffickers but from non-government organisations. 'Arresting the traffickers won't work. Even if you lock up a gang leader for 30 years, 20 more will take his place because the cash rewards are so great. 'The only solution is to stop putting migrants in hotels when they arrive. Turn them around and send them straight back to France.' A Home Office spokesman said: 'We are strengthening our vital cooperation with France to disrupt the gangs behind these crossings. 'From this month, a new unit of dedicated officers has been mobilised to increase patrols along the northern coast of France. 'At the same time, the French authorities are working to amend their operational policy to allow maritime forces to intervene in shallow waters.'
Reuters
an hour ago
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The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
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