Is the oddest friendship in politics going to save us?

Donald Trump says he’s got time for Keir Starmer we’d do well to believe him, writes Chris Blackhurst. It’s all we’ve got

- Chris Blackhurst

Sir Keir Starmer should have arrived in Brussels with a spring in his step yesterday. It might not be his style, of course, but he ought to have felt emboldened. There he was, going to meet the EU leaders for a "reset", just when they were reeling from Donald Trump's latest move.

Make no mistake, the bloc – and Germany in particular – is in Trump’s sights where tariffs are concerned. At the same time, they’ve got pressing security issues, again caused by his machinations, to consider. Will the US president really follow through with his threats to Denmark over Greenland? What now for Ukraine? Where does Trump’s insistence that its other members contribute more leave Nato?

There are many questions and no firm answers. Meanwhile, Trump appears to be going out of his way to say how much he rates Starmer and declaring his fondness for the UK. Where the latter is concerned, there is no doubt he has a soft spot for the country of his mother’s birth, where he owns two golf courses and has several political and golfing pals.