No amount of spin can polish this duff, rushed deal with US

PUFFED-UP Sir Keir Starmer bragged about securing a great trade deal with Donald Trump, but it was the second time he sold Britain out in a week.

- Sam Lister

The Prime Minister was not even in the room when the agreement was finalised and was forced into last-minute concessions over the phone while he was at a football match.

He was clearly bounced into making the announcement, as Peter Mandelson, our ambassador to the US, stood by The Donald in the Oval Office rather than the PM. No 10 would never have wanted to put out such significant news on the 80th anniversary of VE Day.

One of the key tactics used by scam artists is to put time pressure on their victims and make them believe they must act immediately. Starmer was asked if the deal he had struck meant Britain would be better off than it was six months ago.

He would only say the country was better off than it was a day ago.

The Americans were pretty clear it was a win for them, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick producing a chart that shows that the US has tripled its tariffs on Britain while the UK has more than halved its tariffs on them.

Instead of a rate of 3.4%, we now pay 10%. Imports to the UK did average 5.1%, but they will be pushed down to 1.8%.