Well done for surviving the Trump test, PM. But our true friends are in Europe | Stella Creasy

6 hours ago 1

If a week is a long time in politics, a week dominated by the fascination and fear as to what President Trump may do next is an eternity. Fresh off the plane from Washington, Keir Starmer will spend this weekend hosting the great and good of our continent as they take stock of prospects for Ukraine. For the third time since the second world war – after Suez in 1956 and Iraq in 2003 – the United Kingdom is being forced to work out where it stands between the US and Europe.

In the aftermath of those past crises, Britain chose to hug the US as tightly as possible, even if that meant drifting away from European friends. The prime minister appears to have secured a diplomatic coup in getting through his crunch encounter with Donald Trump mostly unscathed. But don’t let bonhomie and bad taste comments about wives fool you: we are still in crisis, and the old routine won’t save us.

Now is not the time for victory laps of the lobby over good headlines or the special relationship. If the past week has reinforced anything, it is how delicate are our prosperity and security, and that both now find stronger sustenance in Europe. The president may enjoy the pageantry of a second state visit, but six weeks into office he’s made it crystal clear his alliances are based not on grand ideals of shared values but profit margins. In negotiating with Vladimir Putin over Ukraine’s head while humiliating President Zelenskyy, Trump has shown that we can no longer assume that when push comes to shove, US core interests will align with ours.

Indeed, even hard interests appear negotiable if they interfere with the bottom line. Take critical minerals, the vital lifeblood of our advanced economies. Trump has strong-armed Zelenskyy into signing over preferential access to the revenues from Ukraine’s national deposits. This comes just weeks after the UK signed its own 100-year partnership with Ukraine that included plans to work together on these very same resources – a promise our government is yet to say can still hold. Meanwhile, there are reports that the US is gearing up to work directly with Russia to extract natural resources in the Arctic.

British PM Anthony Eden and President Dwight Eisenhower shake hands after their three-day conference on world problems, 1 February 1956. The Suez crisis came in October.

Trump may have restated his own liking for Brexit, but it has left us outside the room at a time of high peril. Every nation recognises the need to pour oil on the troubled waters of international affairs at present. Yet we cannot take for granted that our neighbours will be pleased to hear talk of exempting us from the same tariffs being used to threaten their own growth. With stakes this high, now is not the time to indulge rehashed scare stories about cooperation with Europe from the Conservatives, or ignore the vacillation over standing up to Putin from Reform. Nor should we be distracted by the perennial rabbit hole of whether to rejoin the EU – or let either side derail the reset of relationships by old enmities.

Instead of red lines, it’s time to talk shared interests. These will not be achieved if either side delays a new strategic trade partnership for the sake of arguments over fisheries policy. Nor can the UK be asked to fight for Europe, but at the same time be cut out of deals to finance crucial defence industries. British businesses need us to ruthlessly reduce the paperwork currently crippling trade with Europe. The British exchequer needs us to link our emissions trading schemes so that we won’t face a multibillion-pound bill when the EU’s new border charge comes into force. With energy security crucial to our ability to stand up to Putin as well as cutting the cost of living, there is also mutual interest in working at pace with our neighbours on the renewable energy potential of the North Sea – and to protect crucial undersea cables from sabotage.

History shows that when the UK has tried to please everyone, our international reputation – and influence – has diminished for decades afterwards. The prime minister has this week carefully walked a tightrope. It is a start, but it isn’t an answer as to how to secure our own interests in such uncertain times. From intelligence to nuclear weapons, our national security apparatus is tightly bound to the US. So, too, our volume of trade with Europe outweighs any hysteria about a hypothetical new deal with the US that could be years in negotiations.

Realpolitik requires cold, hard calculation now more than ever. Even if we can keep the special relationship intact, it is across the Channel, not the Atlantic, that Britain will need to look first to protect our citizens’ prosperity and security. After the circus, the real lion-taming starts now.