Rottweiler diplomacy will shred hopes of a trade deal

Insiders tell David Maddox that if you want to know what Trump is really thinking, listen to what JD Vance is saying

- David Maddox

Since the beginning of the year, there has been a marked difference between the effusive and slightly over-the-top kind words Donald Trump has used about Keir Starmer and the appalling things his key supporters have been saying about the prime minister. This, along with the contemptuous briefings against him and his government.

But this last week, all has become crystal clear about the mafia boss-style game Trump is using in his relations with his beloved UK – the land of his mother. It was highlighted in the Oval Office in the afterglow of Trump getting the letter from the King he had hankered for, asking him to be the first person in history to get a second state visit to the UK.

A reporter asked a question about vice-president JD Vance’s attack on Britain in his incredibly hostile Munich speech where he claimed Starmer’s government was engaged in an assault on free speech, not least with its plans to impose laws restricting online and social media activity.

The president paused for a moment and then, turning to his vice-president, asked him to explain what he meant. Vance did not hold back and a slightly alarmed-looking Starmer felt the need to jump in to remind everyone that Britain “has had free speech for hundreds of years… and will continue to have free speech for hundreds of years”.

It was not exactly the meltdown in the Oval Office that followed 24 hours later, when Vance publicly launched an attack on Ukraine’s President Zelensky, but it was a noticeably awkward moment in an atmosphere of mutual back-slapping and bonhomie.