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“We’re feeling good, we’re very well prepared,” one senior UK official declared on the eve of Keir Starmer’s highly anticipated first meeting with Donald Trump at the White House. The prime minister had just landed in Washington DC and been driven straight to a glitzy reception at the UK ambassador’s opulent Edwin Lutyens-designed residence.
Under the sparkling crystal chandeliers and among the grand marble columns, his euphoric host, Peter Mandelson, introduced Starmer to guests including the new FBI director, Kush Patel. The Republican senator Lindsey Graham and the New York-based editor Tina Brown were also present.
“I’ve only just arrived but already I can feel there’s real buzz around Washington right now,” Starmer told the gathering. “You can sense that there’s a new leader. He’s a true one-off, a pioneer in business, in politics. Many people love him. Others love to hate him. But to us, he’s just … Peter.”
But alongside the levity there was also apprehension among the prime minister’s most senior advisers at what might unfold the next day, which held probably the most consequential meeting of Starmer’s premiership, and also the most unpredictable.
“We’re well prepared but also aware that absolutely anything could happen. Trump is so mercurial,” a second official said. “So it’s rather fraught.”
The groundwork for the visit had been going on for some time. In May last year, David Lammy made his sixth visit to Washington since becoming shadow foreign secretary, spending several days in the US capital meeting the Democrat and Republican campaign teams.
When he got back to the UK, he wrote a memo for Starmer, then leader of the opposition, sharing how impressed he had been by the professionalism and focus of the Trump campaign. At the top of the page were the words: “The Democrats are in trouble.”
Since then, Starmer and his senior team have been preparing for a Trump presidency, putting personal relationships at the heart of their strategy. In September, by now prime minister, Starmer dined at Trump Tower in New York.
Three months later his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, travelled to the US for talks with his Trump counterpart, Susie Wiles. Others have been out to Washington in recent days, leaving nothing to chance.
“If Donald Trump likes somebody he’s doing business with, it makes all the difference,” one senior government official said. “He likes that Keir is down to earth. It’s important because it means it’s possible for him to raise difficult issues without risk.”
During their meetings, Trump’s warmth towards Starmer was apparent, describing him as a “special man”, lauding the “incredible” and “unprecedented” offer from King Charles of a second state visit, and even lavishing praise on the prime minister’s “beautiful” Surrey accent.
They had not got there by accident. The government’s strategy has been threefold: flatter Trump’s not insubstantial ego; characterise the UK’s “asks” through the prism of how they might benefit America; but also stand up for the British national interest.
As part of the first, there was a conscious decision to “dial down the volume” in public about Trump’s more outrageous public outbursts, whether that was falsely labelling Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator, suggesting making Canada the 51st US state, or sharing an AI video of “Trump Gaza”.
Starmer brought personal gifts with him from the UK. The president’s included a golf cap in his family tartan and some Downing Street golf balls, while his wife, Melania, received a Liberty scarf and No 10 candle. In return, Trump gave the football-mad prime minister a US jersey with his name and the number 10 on the back.
The second part of the UK strategy involved presenting a deal on the Chagos Islands as a national security issue, suggesting a tech-focused trade deal would be an economic boon for the US, and encouraging American security guarantees for Ukraine so that any peace treaty is durable.
The Downing Street team was also aware that to truly earn Trump’s respect, Starmer would have to – in the words of one adviser – “show some balls”, demonstrating that he was willing to stand up for the UK’s national interest.
He did so repeatedly, reminding Trump that Vladimir Putin was the aggressor in Ukraine, challenging JD Vance on free speech in the UK and arguing the case against tariffs. “He tried,” Trump joked with reporters at a press conference later in the opulent east room of the White House when asked about tariffs. “He earned whatever the hell they pay him over there.”
While No 10 will have been relieved that the White House visit went without any obvious hitch, in the longer term, was the prime minister’s strategy successful? “I think we’ll have two deals. A deal on ending the war, and I think we’re going to end up with a great trade deal,” Trump concluded.
Starmer left the White House with positive noises on tariffs, although Trump did not rule out imposing them entirely; also the prospect of a tech trade deal, although officials admitted there would have to be policy and regulatory compromises ahead. And the president hinted he could accept the Chagos Islands deal – although some in his administration are vehemently against.
When the prime minister came to the back of the plane on the flight back to London to chat briefly to journalists, he confirmed he was “happy” with how the day had gone, giving a Trump-style thumbs up.
But the prime minister and his senior team know there is a danger that any endorsement from Trump may prove short-lived, and there is always the risk the president could very publicly change his mind. Also, Zelenskyy was due to arrive in Washington on Friday, so the situation in Ukraine could change extremely quickly in either direction.
One Starmer aide said: “I wouldn’t put too much stress on one meeting, what’s important is the process. We’re at the very beginning of that and there are very basic things not yet agreed or defined.”
Chief among those is Starmer’s push for a US military “backstop” to support any European peacekeeping forces that may end up in Ukraine if a peace deal is reached. Trump repeatedly resisted making any sort of commitment. Instead, he suggested that an economic backstop of US civilians working in Ukraine on a multibillion-dollar critical minerals deal would be enough to deter Putin, perhaps also hoping that the vagueness of his position might prevent another Russian attack.
Starmer is trying to keep his eye on the ultimate prize. “When there’s a Trump presidency, the rhetoric is always very destabilising, so we try to zoom out,” an aide said. “The president has been very clear he wants to end the war. That’s all that matters, and we want to help him get there.”
