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Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
STEPHEN DAISLEY President made Starmer look small and shifty... he's like a new leader of the opposition
Keir Starmer and Donald Trump are like one of those couples on a TV matchmaker competition who are so wildly incompatible you just know they'll end up going on the most awkward date ever. And it was awkward, all right. Nobbled by the hacks on the way into their press conference at Trump's golf course at Turnberry in Ayrshire, the prime minister might have been hoping his unlikely companion would wave off the questions and head inside. A quick off the record natter and down to business. Like that was going to happen. This is Donald Trump. He is drawn to TV cameras like overmanned dinghies are drawn to Dover. Naturally, the question was the last one Starmer wanted: immigration. He yapped pathetically about the deportations carried out since he came to power, while Trump steamrollered ahead with a lengthy jeremiad about how migrants had changed Europe. 'Europe is a much different place than it was five years, ten years ago,' he rambled. 'They've got to get their act together. If they don't, you're not going to have Europe anymore as you know it. You can't do that.' Truly, this was a historic summit. The first presidential visit to be recorded as a non-crime hate incident. Once inside, the prime minister and the president sat in tandem to field questions from the media. The pairing was bizarre, the tension palpable, every second breathtaking. It's a wonder it wasn't blocked under the Online Safety Act. Like all doomed couples, they couldn't see eye to eye on their friends. 'I'm not a fan of your mayor,' Trump opined to a reporter. 'I think he's done a terrible job. The mayor of London. He's a nasty person.' Starmer's face fell like his poll numbers. With a nervous chuckle in his voice, he chirped: 'He's a friend of mine.' Trump stared ahead, deadpan: 'No, he's done a terrible job — but I would still visit London.' Starmer cringed. The only thing missing was the theme tune from Curb Your Enthusiasm. Mark Twain called golf 'a good walk spoiled', but he was talking out of his hole-in-one. This was pure entertainment. I still reckon a birdie is something in the sky and bogey the bloke in Casablanca, but if every golf club puts on a show like this, sign me up. Every time Trump went on a verbal wander around his own thoughts, Starmer sat gape-mouthed, which was helpful since it gave the president somewhere to stick his foot every minute or so. The prime minister looked almost relieved to take a question on farming and inheritance tax, no doubt assuming even Trump couldn't find a way to mess this up for him. Then the president began recounting how he had removed the estate tax from family farms, mindful that farmers like to keep their land in the family and noting the increased risks of suicide where they were not allowed to do so. Starmer, whose government plans to whomp British farms with new death taxes, sat there in stoney silence. Excruciating doesn't begin to cover it. I get secondary embarrassment very easily. The sight of someone else humiliated has my cheeks smouldering like volcanoes. It's just too agonising to watch. I bit through so many fingernails yesterday afternoon I skipped dinner entirely. The lowest moment for Starmer came when a journalist asked: 'The president makes it look easy dealing with illegal migrants. You must be envious of his record in such a short period of time.' Starmer squirmed like an eel in a well-tailored suit, acknowledging the issue and the importance of tackling it. Trump beamed in satisfaction. Finally, someone from the media who wasn't Fake News. The discussion turned to internet censorship, as Trump learned that new powers would allow the nation to shut down his Truth Social network. 'I don't think he's going to censor my site because I only say nice things,' he insisted, turning to Starmer and pleading: 'Will you please uncensor my site?' The prime minister explained, in a excitable word jumble, that there were no plans to suppress Truth Social and maintained the new laws were aimed at protecting children. Asked if he could give Starmer any tips for beating Nigel Farage, Trump recommended tax cuts, cracking down on crime and curbing illegal immigration. Starmer was as impassive as a statue. All three were popular policies in Britain, but now if he did anyone of them he would be seen as taking Trump's advice. The president then congratulated Starmer for 'becoming strong on immigration'. As if he didn't have enough problems with the parliamentary Labour party, now he'd have to explain why Bad Orange Man was bigging up his border policies. Every time Trump threw Starmer a rope it had a noose on the end. Then we came to the wind mills. The president is famously not a fan. Probably intimidated by the only creations that generate more hot air than him. 'When we go to Aberdeen,' he mused, drifting off on a tangent, 'they have some of the ugliest windmills you've ever seen.' These 'ugly monsters', he told the viewers at home, had a lifespan of eight years, would have to be dumped in the ocean, and required 'massive subsidies' to sustain them. He had stopped as many in the US as he could. Alas, some 'poor stupid people' had approved a number of them before he came along. Starmer, who approves of windmills, didn't seem to like that. There was the mildest of twitches in his otherwise disciplined facial expression. His countenance was that of a condemned prisoner having his death warrant read out and wishing they would just skip to the shooting. Trump proposed an alternative energy source, one that involved creating only a hole in the ground 'this big' — he cupped his hands by way of illustration. He was talking about drilling the North Sea bed for oil. At this juncture, Starmer looked like he would happily climb into a hole in the sea, anything to escape this televised torture. Trump is awful, of course, but he's a wonderful kind of awful. He's that friend everyone has who is a bit of a rogue but so damn charming you can't resist them. Watching one of his press conferences is like being present at a bomb disposal operation. You find yourself fixated on his every word, tic, breath and flutter of the eyes, knowing that, any second now, he could cut the wrong wire and blow everyone to kingdom come. Mercifully, the press conference concluded without any detonations, but the prime minister still looked shellshocked. Without really trying Trump had made him look small and shifty, doing a number on his credibility that Kemi Badenoch would struggle to manage. The man's only been in the country a few days and already he's the new leader of the opposition. The Labour leader wasn't the only politician left reeling by Trump's restless tongue. The president proposed that there not be another referendum on Scottish independence for 50 or 75 years. Given how slow progress is under John Swinney, the SNP rank and file should take Trump up on his offer. The political class resents Trump and, yes, he is vulgar, crass, short-tempered and toweringly arrogant, but he speaks in a plain, direct language never heard in British politics. There's no artifice there. He's too much of an egomaniac for that. But for all his flaws, two men sat before the world's press yesterday and while one could brag about his successes in office the other could only squirm.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Starmer's expressionless face finally serves him well
Sir Keir Starmer 's expressionless face may have led to unfavourable comparisons with robots, but it served him well in the Donald J Trump ballroom. While the US president held court for an hour and 10 minutes – fielding questions on everything from the suffering in Gaza and US interest rates to the dead paedophile Jeffrey Epstein – the Prime Minister kept his eyes dead ahead, like a passer-by trying to avoid eye contact with someone talking to themself. He encountered a president in top form after two days of golf at one of his favourite courses, and 24 hours after unveiling a trade deal with the EU worth trillions of dollars in investment. After small talk on the steps of Turnberry with Sir Keir and his wife Victoria – who Mr Trump described as 'very respected – about Aisla Craig, the island in the distance, discussions soon turned to Russia and Palestinian statehood. The president went on to say: 'I don't know what he's [Sir Keir] doing but she's very respected, as respected as him. I don't want to say more, I'll get myself in trouble. But she's very, she's a great woman and is very highly respected.' Perhaps tellingly, Lady Starmer did not join the Prime Minister and Mr Trump later on an Air Force One flight to Aberdeen. What was meant to be a quick photo-op became an impromptu press conference, despite the best efforts of a bagpiper almost drowning out journalists' questions. It may have been Scottish soil, but there was no doubt who was the host. Inside the ballroom, it was the same. Sir Keir was invisible for minutes at a time, a prop at his own bilateral meeting. 'He poached people that worked for me,' said Mr Trump, as he was lured by an American reporter into discussing his falling out with Epstein 20 years ago. 'I said, 'Don't ever do that again.' He did it again. And I threw him out of the place.' Sir Keir pressed his hands together, brushed lint from his sleeves, crossed and uncrossed his legs as Mr Trump held forth. To one side, Sophie Nazemi, his director of communications, kept her eyes fixed on the Prime Minister, as if monitoring for a distress signal. The room was vast – eight huge chandeliers at least – but the chairs at its centre had been positioned to evoke the intimacy of the Oval Office. It meant there was nowhere for Sir Keir to hide. He and Mr Trump sat at the heads of their teams, who were lined up in chairs set out in the space where the White House sofas would be. It made the US president the host, and Sir Keir the dutiful guest. 'Thank you so much for showing us around and having this opportunity to sit in this fantastic ballroom, which is absolutely incredible,' he said. Somehow, Sir Keir and Mr Trump have developed a warm working relationship. But occasionally it sounded as if the president rather wished that there was a different person in the seat next to him. 'Nigel, as you know, is a friend of mine,' he said as he discussed Nigel Farage 's demand that the president be allowed to address Parliament during his September state visit. 'Keir is a friend of mine,' he added, in the nick of time. It was a chance for the Prime Minister to jump in, and dispel any notion of the US president turning Parliament into a set for the Trump show. 'Parliament's in recess at the time,' he said, before using words like 'unprecedented', 'sophisticated', and 'historic' to describe Mr Trump's second visit of the year. Sir Keir's poker face became a thousand-yard stare as the minutes ticked by. Was anyone going to end this press conference? He found moments of relief along the way, pivoting quickly from a tricky question about whether the Open should return to Turnberry, to answer an earlier question about the Lionesses' European Championship victory in Basel on Sunday. 'The mental and physical resilience that they showed was quite incredible,' he said, no doubt comparing it with his own capacity for resilience. 'So there's a lot of bunting out today or tomorrow to celebrate them bringing that cup home.' Relief came in the end not from the president but from one of the junior White House staffers. 'That's it,' she shouted. 'Everyone out.' Mr Trump was still answering a question on whether the UK needed its own 'Alligator Alcatraz' immigrant camp, while Sir Keir could breathe a sigh of relief. Sir Keir still had the rest of the evening to go – a trip on Air Force One, then Marine One to Aberdeenshire and Mr Trump's second golf course. Later, the two leaders emerged from the presidential helicopter at Mr Trump's country hotel on his Menie Estate. The president's adult sons, wives and partners had made the trip, but there was no sign of Lady Starmer.
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Keir Starmer jumps in to defend Sadiq Khan from Donald Trump's ‘nasty' accusation
Donald Trump hit out at London's mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, describing him as a 'nasty person' before Sir Keir Starmer jumped in to defend his friend. During a press conference in Scotland on Monday (28 July), the US president said when asked if he would be visiting the capital during his state visit later this year: "I'm not a fan of your mayor. I think he's done a terrible job, the Mayor of London… a nasty person.' Jumping to the Labour mayor's defence, the prime minister intervened to say: "He's a friend of mine, actually.' Mr Trump added that he would "certainly visit London."
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Deion Sanders reveals he made a will in May, thinking he might not be here
Deion Sanders and his medical team plan to discuss his health at a press conference today. Ahead of that press conference, it's been revealed that Sanders' health issues are serious enough that he wrote his will in May, thinking he might not live much longer. In a video released late last night but shot by his son, Deion Sanders Jr., on May 9, Coach Prime talks about how concerned he was about his health. "Mentally, emotionally, last night was tough, yesterday was tough, because I had to make a will. That's not easy at all, to think that you may not be here," Sanders said. A month after making that video, Sanders said everything is OK. And he looked and sounded healthy when he attended the Big 12 media days this month in his capacity as Colorado's head coach. And Sanders Jr. also posted on social media that his father had "a hard fought battle, but it was a battle that was fought and won.' Whatever the unspecified health issue was, it was serious enough that it was a major concern for Sanders as recently as a few months ago. More clarity should come today.
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump says he turned down a trip to notorious Epstein island where abuse happened: ‘One of my very good moments'
President Donald Trump said that he turned down an invitation to Jeffrey Epstein's notorious island, characterizing the decision as 'one of my very good moments.' Trump was quizzed again Monday about the Epstein files while holding a press conference with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland. 'I never had the privilege of going to his island, and I did turn it down, but a lot of people in Palm Beach were invited to his island,' Trump said. 'In one of my very good moments, I turned it down. I didn't want to go to his island,' he added.
