From the red carpet on the ground, to the Red Arrows in the skies, the carefully choreographed welcome for President Trump on his historic second state visit was flawless. All the President’s men, 1,500 troops in total, paraded perfectly and the ‘chessboard’ of the British ruling elite – a King, a Queen, Knights and Bishops – were on hand to pay due homage at the state banquet.
One question that could be asked though concerns the choice of food. Watercress panna cotta from Hampshire to start followed by organic Norfolk chicken wrapped in courgette with a thyme ‘jus’ and then a dessert of vanilla ice cream bombe with Kentish raspberry sorbet does seem a little wasted on a man whose favourite meal is cheeseburger and chips. Similarly, offering a 1945 port and a 1912 cognac to someone who is teetotal and drinks Diet Coke might be pushing your luck.
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But all eyes were then on a suitably refreshed and rested President as he made the 27-mile helicopter hop from Windsor Castle to Chequers in Buckinghamshire, because it was there the President – and more crucially – our Prime Minister would no longer be surrounded by cheering courtiers and supine staff and would give a joint press conference.
And the difference between the two men seemed like the width of the Atlantic.
As President Trump spelt out in blunt terms how he has brought the number of illegal migrants entering the US from millions to zero (the veracity of which is surely debatable) and how to deploy the military, our PM wittered on about a deal that had removed one, yes ONE, person earlier that day and referenced some bizarre facet called “proof of concept.”
Hardly the stuff of raids in the US by ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
When challenged about why he is about to support Palestine being recognised as an independent state, something Trump viscerally opposes, Starmer appeared like a stunned mullet in the glare of the lights and relied on the hardly groundbreaking news that “Hamas is a terrorist organisation.”
Equally when it was pointed out to him that there are allegedly 12,000 people arrested each year in this country for social media posts, he listlessly blathered “we’ve always valued free speech.”
And when it came to bringing peace to Ukraine, our PM gazed at Trump and then implored him to “put pressure on Putin.” So much for his “Coalition of the Willing” then.
You don’t have to support everything Trump does or says – and indeed, I do not – but you couldn’t help but feel you’d been in the presence of one world leader, and one human rights lawyer.