A tightrope act that is starting to get wobbly

ANYONE hoping for a Love Actually moment, where a UK PM socks it to a sleazy American leader, will have been disappointed yesterday.

- BY LIZZY BUCHAN, POLITICAL EDITOR

But Keir Starmer was clear in a Downing Street press conference that he thinks firing off angry retorts to Donald Trump serves no purpose. For a year, the PM has been walking a tightrope with the US President, balancing his act with careful diplomacy, flattery and a bit of royal stardust.

This strategy has been tested to breaking point since the start of 2026.

Mr Starmer kept quiet on Trump's raid on Venezuela but the US President's ambitions to take Greenland are impossible to ignore, especially now the threat of tariffs to clobber British businesses has been added.