Friday briefing: Special relationships, unlikely ‘friendships’ – Trump’s state visit beyond the cliches
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Version 0 of 1. In today’s newsletter: Never has so much flattery been bestowed upon a US president. But will the efforts of the prime minister and the king make a difference to the UK? Good morning. Donald Trump has gone home, no doubt so thrilled by the Red Arrows and the chance to have dinner with Nick Faldo that he will enter the Oval Office this morning a changed man. Admittedly, at his Chequers press conference with Keir Starmer yesterday afternoon, the transformation hadn’t entirely taken hold: Trump suggested, for example, that the UK should use the military to end the small boats crisis. But compared to his most chaotic unscripted appearances this year, it was tame enough an affair for Starmer to breathe a sigh of relief. Can Starmer view the state visit as a success? It depends on how you’re counting. £150bn new investment in the UK from US firms, a respite from his own domestic woes, and the chance to butter up a president who appears uniquely susceptible to servility are the prizes that Downing Street will boast about, in slightly different terms, in the days ahead. But critics will ask whether the timing of the investment news really represents a causal link, note that questions over Starmer’s leadership are likely to resume immediately, and ask whether Trump’s appetite for flattery will have any material consequences. Today’s newsletter runs you through the highlights, or at least features, of the state visit. Here are the headlines. Five big stories Gaza | More than a quarter of a million people have been displaced from Gaza City in the last month, new figures from the UN reveal, with tens of thousands more forced to flee makeshift homes and shelters daily in the face of a new Israeli offensive. UK news | The Bank of England has left interest rates on hold at 4% and will slow the pace of its “quantitative tightening” programme in the year ahead to avoid distorting jittery government bond markets. Immigration | The first Channel migrant has been deported to France under the controversial one in, one out deal, the Home Office has confirmed. UK politics | An extraordinary split has opened between Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana in the formation of their new leftwing party, with the former Labour leader suggesting he will take legal action over an unauthorised membership portal promoted by his co-leader. US news | Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that TV networks which cover him “negatively” could lose their licenses after his celebration of ABC suspending late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. Trump said that Kimmel was “not a talented person” who “had very bad ratings”. In depth: ‘Unprecedented … incredible … historic’ – but how much does it matter? After visits to two stately homes, a lavish selection of gifts, and a meal served with six glasses and a napkin folded to look like a bonnet, Donald Trump gave Keir Starmer the greatest gift he could have asked for in return: he navigated yesterday’s press conference in a mood of palpable boredom. As Starmer hymned the “unique bond” between the UK and US, his American counterpart shuffled his papers, gazed into the middle distance, and smiled vaguely at someone in the audience; declining to pile in on a range of controversial subjects, he chose instead to speak at length about ending a war between Albania and Azerbaijan that hasn’t happened. For the British government, in other words, the whole thing went off without a hitch. Here are the key details if you couldn’t bear to watch any of it. The Chequers visit | Bear traps avoided, fireworks unlit Yesterday’s press conference was plainly the moment of greatest risk for Starmer, where his US counterpart might easily have laid into him over Gaza, free speech, or the Peter Mandelson affair. But Trump simply claimed not to know Mandelson, who stood next to him in the Oval Office to announce a trade deal in May; limited his response to the UK’s plan to recognise the state of Palestine to a description of it as “one of our few disagreements”; and declined to launch into the right’s favourite talking points about free speech. All things considered, Patrick Wintour writes here, “With bear traps avoided and fireworks unlit, Keir Starmer will be delighted.” Starmer, for his part, leaned heavily into claims that the “technology prosperity deal” inked by the two leaders would “bring real benefits, in jobs, in growth, in lower bills, to put more hard-earned cash in people’s pockets”. And there is no doubt that the £150bn worth of deals announced this week are welcome news for his beleaguered government. Downing Street said that it represented a larger total of inward investment than everything announced last year. (Here’s a useful breakdown.) But there are objections to that analysis. It is an open question as to whether Trump’s visit is directly responsible for the investments, or whether they have simply been timed to maximise his ability to accept compliments for them. And former deputy prime minister and Meta president for global affairs, Nick Clegg, was dismissive: the UK is “is basically just taking sloppy seconds from Silicon Valley”, he said, arguing that they represented the UK’s inability to break out of American tech reliance to build a significant sector of its own. The state banquet | Shiny forks and prominent dorks While every detail of the Windsor dinner – down to the shiny gold cutlery – was calibrated to the US president’s thriving sense of his own importance, King Charles’s generally uncontroversial speech did make some gentle references to causes that he and the British government consider important. He said that the US was standing alongside the UK and other allies “in support of Ukraine, to deter aggression and secure peace”. He described a shared ambition to “restore the wonders and beauty of nature”, an assertion that may sound odd to those who have followed the Trump administration’s efforts to scrap virtually all meaningful pollution standards. And he praised a trade deal that has brought “jobs and growth to both our countries”, when the reality is that UK goods exports to the US recently slumped to a three-year low. If there wasn’t the usual gaggle of household names in attendance, there were plenty of prominent business, media and technology figures: from Rupert Murdoch, who was sitting next to Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, to the Apple CEO, Tim Cook. (And self-proclaimed Trump confidant Nick Faldo.) The sycophancy | ‘It’s so incredible’ The route to Donald Trump’s heart is not a complicated one, as Keir Starmer’s reverential submission of an invitation from King Charles at the Oval Office in February made clear. “An unprecedented second state visit,” he said. “This has never happened before. It’s so incredible, it will be historic.” There was plenty more of that sort of thing this week, from Starmer’s description of Trump having “led the way” on Ukraine yesterday to the selection of a 1945 vintage port at the dinner to commemorate his status as the 45th US president. There were gifts, too, from an Anya Hindmarch handbag for Melania to a bespoke red box of the kind usually reserved for cabinet ministers. It’s not quite a $400m jetliner, but Trump preened at all this with delight nonetheless, with his sense that he had vanquished all other US presidents foremost in his mind. “If you think about it, it’s a lot of presidents,” he observed. “This was the second state visit – and that’s a first and maybe that’s going to be the last time. I hope it is actually.” The cliches | What a special relationship! It’s been a testing week for anyone weary of hearing about the “special relationship” between the US and UK, a tricky concept to reconcile with Trump’s thoroughly transactional America First doctrine, even if he insisted he saw the two nations as “two verses of the same poem”. There were plenty more boxes to tick off on your diplomatic bingo card. Misty-eyed recollections of his mother’s Scottish roots; paeans to a relationship forged through two world wars; and King Charles’s slightly defeatist acknowledgment that one of the main things Trump likes about the UK is building golf courses here, even as it emerged that his Aberdeenshire site has breached sewage contamination limits 14 times in six years. More novel, but quickly ascending to the status of old chestnut, are the endless assertions that Trump and Starmer enjoy some sort of star-crossed “unlikely friendship”, as if Starmer were irresistibly attracted to his counterpart’s roguish charms and not obviously motivated by political expediency. Meanwhile, for anyone who likes their corny diplomatic photo opportunities with a side of regressive gender politics, there was the spectacle of Melania being packed off with Camilla to admire Queen Mary’s doll’s house. The silences | Protesters avoided – or arrested Central to the success of the visit was everything that Trump’s hosts sought to keep out of view. Stansted Airport was as close as Trump got to central London and the risk of unavoidable protesters, with the rest of the trip taking place at Windsor and Chequers. Four men accused of projecting images of Trump with Jeffrey Epstein on to Windsor Castle were arrested on suspicion of malicious communications, the first time that has happened in 25 or 30 similar stunts, a Led By Donkeys spokesperson said. (Meanwhile – shortly before hailing US network ABC for taking late night presenter Jimmy Kimmel off air over comments he made about the ideology of Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer – Trump was eulogising the US and UK’s shared history of free speech.) Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion There was, it goes without saying, no hint of criticism of the Trump administration’s approach to the climate crisis, the crisis in the Middle East, or domestic dissent. And while the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein was impossible to entirely avoid at the press conference, every other aspect of the visit was predictable and unthreatening. That is partly because the UK appears to have concluded that to get what it wants out of Trump over Ukraine or tariffs, the smartest approach is to praise him for having already done it – or even better, get the king to. Now that the US delegation is safely back in Washington DC, Starmer is likely to proceed with recognising the state of Palestine imminently. Trump appeared unconcerned at the prospect yesterday. But it was what he had to say when Emmanuel Macron made the same move earlier in the summer that might give us a sense of why: “What he says doesn’t matter. It’s not going to change anything.” What else we’ve been reading What was striking about last weekend’s far-right march wasn’t the turnout, as Aditya Chakrabortty astutely observes, but the Labour government’s longstanding silence on the prejudice and disinformation. Such a strategy will only serve to usher in the hard right. Aamna These tributes to Robert Redford from those who worked with him are full of details that burnish his old Hollywood glamour: “He took me riding near his home in New Mexico,” Ralph Fiennes says. “I’m no horseman but he made me feel I could be.” Archie Mariam, Nasser and Ahmed are among the tens of thousands of children injured during Israel’s war in Gaza. They were evacuated to Egypt, but remain stranded at a hospital that cannot treat their life-threatening injuries after Donald Trump’s sudden ban on Palestinians entering the US. Aamna In the Economist’s 1843 magazine, Steve Coll has a riveting account of Steve Witkoff’s efforts to remake the Middle East as Trump’s regional envoy – and how he was found out. Archie This is a fascinating interview with the new chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, who is urging Rachel Reeves to ditch Labour’s manifesto tax pledges, scrap the pensions triple lock, lift the two-child limit on benefits – and forget the idea that a new wealth tax is the answer to anything. Yikes. Aamna What was striking about last weekend’s far-right march wasn’t the turnout, as Aditya Chakrabortty astutely observes, but the Labour government’s longstanding silence on the prejudice and disinformation. Such a strategy will only serve to usher in the hard right. Aamna These tributes to Robert Redford from those who worked with him are full of details that burnish his old Hollywood glamour: “He took me riding near his home in New Mexico,” Ralph Fiennes says. “I’m no horseman but he made me feel I could be.” Archie Mariam, Nasser and Ahmed are among the tens of thousands of children injured during Israel’s war in Gaza. They were evacuated to Egypt, but remain stranded at a hospital that cannot treat their life-threatening injuries after Donald Trump’s sudden ban on Palestinians entering the US. Aamna In the Economist’s 1843 magazine, Steve Coll has a riveting account of Steve Witkoff’s efforts to remake the Middle East as Trump’s regional envoy – and how he was found out. Archie This is a fascinating interview with the new chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, who is urging Rachel Reeves to ditch Labour’s manifesto tax pledges, scrap the pensions triple lock, lift the two-child limit on benefits – and forget the idea that a new wealth tax is the answer to anything. Yikes. Aamna Sport Football | Two goals from Marcus Rashford led Barcelona to a 2-1 victory over Newcastle United in the Champions League. Meanwhile, Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku gave Manchester City a 2-0 victory over Napoli, with the returning Kevin De Bruyne substituted in the first half as the visitors reorganised after a red card. World Athletics | The US’ Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone ran the fastest women’s 400 metres in 40 years to claim world championship gold in 47.78 sec on Thursday. Women’s Rugby | Hannah Botterman has admitted she feared her Rugby World Cup was over after sustaining a back injury, but the 26-year-old has recovered to be named in England’s semi-final starting XV. The front pages The papers on Friday all lead on the final day of Donald Trump’s state visit, with the Guardian headlining on “Use the military to stop Channel crossings, Trump tells Starmer”. The i has “Trump urges Starmer: use military to stop migrant boats”, while the Financial Times says “‘Call out the military’ to stop illegal immigrants, Trump urges Starmer”. The Telegraph quotes Trump with “‘Send in military to stop boats’” and the Sun has “Use troops to stop boats”. The Times reports “Immigration is destroying UK, Trump tells Starmer”. The Mail says “Trump shows PM who’s boss”, while the Mirror simply leads with “Thank goodness that’s over”. Something for the weekend Our critics’ roundup of the best things to watch, read, play and listen to right now TVGen V | ★★★★☆Two years after we last joined its troubled teens in their battle against the forces of corporate tyranny, superhero drama Gen V is back for a second series of powerfully bawdy chaos. There are several outrageous, monocle-fogging set-pieces, including a gratuitous full-frontal male locker room scene (what is it with Gen V and penises?). There is an enormous amount of swearing and violence, much sweet-natured navigating of still-unformed teenage belief systems, and many, many perfect jokes about the endless commodification of mental health and gender identity. Sarah Dempster Music Joy Crookes: Juniper | ★★★★☆The four years that separated her debut from her latest album Juniper were partly consumed by a period when she was “mentally unstable”. Though this period understandably hangs over the contents of Juniper, Joy Crookes avoids cliche on co-dependency to intergenerational trauma, creating music that is impressively fresh and individual take on the familiar. The songs have big choruses and strong melodies, clearly asserting Crookes’s talent as a vocalist and songwriter. Alexis Petridis Film Ghost Trail | ★★★★☆This fiction feature debut of French film-maker Jonathan Millet follows Syrian refugee Hamid (played by Adam Bessa), a former literature professor from Aleppo who is now in Strasbourg in France in 2016, having suffered torture in Damascus’s notorious Sednaya prison, and the killing of his wife and infant daughter. He is now on a manhunt for his torturer. Hamid becomes paranoiacally convinced that a Syrian chemistry student is the man he is looking for, but could he be just another innocent Syrian refugee trying to rebuild his life? The movie sweeps ambitiously across Europe and the Middle East and shows us a complex world of pain. Peter Bradshaw The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad How close are you with your family pet? If you are reading this from Australia, the answer is pretty close, according to a new study. The triennial Animal Medicines Australia 2025 survey shows owners now regularly give pets presents on special occasions, cook for them, leave the television or radio on for them, take time off work to care for them and bring them on holidays. Almost three-quarters of Australian households have a furry friend, with dogs retaining their dominant position as the country’s most popular extended family member. Some pets get special outfits, many co-sleep with their “pet parents”, while expenditure on pets, such as specialist diets and services, has grown significantly in recent years. Bored at work? And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until Monday. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply |