Starmer has avoided state-visit pitfalls but has he changed any of the US president's thinking?

With bear traps avoided and fireworks unlit, Keir Starmer will be delighted that his press conference with President Trump lent credence to his claim to be America’s first partner in defence, trade and now technology.

- Patrick Wintour

Trump, for his part, got the “great pictures” he wanted and was on his best low-wattage behaviour. He said he did not disagree with his host about much, save Starmer’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state. And he teetered on the edge of being diplomatic, at least until he advised Starmer to use the military to stop small boats crossing the Channel.

But the hour the two men spent away from the cameras will be the true test of whether Starmer was able to use this second state visit, with all its pomp, to change any of the president’s thinking.

Starmer - whose technique in public is to alight on whatever small patch of common ground he can find with Trump - will have used that precious private time to try to persuade him to think again about the trustworthiness of Vladimir Putin and the judgment of Benjamin Netanyahu.

On Gaza, judging by the press conference, Starmer failed. Trump nodded when he was told by the ITV reporter that he was “the only man on the planet capable of stopping the demolition of Gaza City, to stop the starvation of Palestine and stop the killing of civilians”.