Now is not the time for grandstanding

Where does bien-pensant opinion turn to for its political inspiration? Is it the latest report by the Resolution Foundation, arguing that inequality is reaching unprecedented levels, or perhaps some quasi-academic tome, declaring that only a global tax on multinationals can house-train capitalism? If the response to Donald Trump’s tariff-hiking “liberation day” is anything to go by, much of Britain’s Left seems to be in thrall to a 22-year-old romcom.

Love Actually at first watching may seem to be little more than Christmas pap, with a sideswipe at the then Labour government’s decision to stand alongside the United States in the Iraq War. But now, many on the Labour benches are hoping that Sir Keir Starmer will channel his inner Hugh Grant and publicly stand up to the American president. 

In the film, Grant, playing the British prime minister, uses a joint press conference to launch a blistering attack on US bossiness and the fictional president’s intimidatory tactics. Grant’s performance was the antithesis of Sir Keir’s approach on his visit to the Oval Office in February. 

The Prime Minister must now resist the appeal of playing to the Labour crowd. A grandstanding show of standing up to the United States may earn Sir Keir accolades from the Left in the short term, but it will come at a heavy price. The UK has been subjected to the lowest bracket of Trump’s tariffs and that would surely change if we engaged in such juvenile political antics.

The Left denigrates our imperial past and is desperate for us to endlessly apologise for the alleged wrongs committed by distant forebears. It argues that we must publicly atone, even pay reparations, for what we did when we were a great power and be ashamed of our victories then.

But it then fondly imagines that we can still play at being a great power now. Those days are gone, and it is the Left that, the vast majority of the time, celebrates this as a good thing. We are endlessly lectured on why moving closer to Europe is our only option as a much-diminished power. And yet, somehow, we allegedly have all the cards in our hand when resisting the president’s demands.

In today’s world, the United Kingdom is no China. That country’s economic clout means it can resist Trump’s economic demands; we cannot. Sir Keir would be foolish to listen to those voices insisting he change tack. The Prime Minister’s emollient Oval Office approach came as a welcome surprise. It will produce the best results and he must stick to it.