As Trump looms large, can Keir Starmer save the world?

Paul Harrison was then-Prime Minister Theresa May’s press secretary when Trump gave an incendiary interview to the Sun arguing her Brexit plans would “probably kill” a U.S.-U.K. trade deal just as she was preparing to host him in Britain. Despite this, Harrison believes Trump can be won round, with his climb down of sorts when president and PM met shortly afterwards an example.

“The act of persuasion with him is difficult, and it has to be done very carefully,” Harris said, and Starmer “has a few, though not many, cards to play.”

For one, Trump respects “political strength.” Starmer won a huge Commons majority in July and isn’t required to hold another general election until August 2029 — a year after the next presidential vote.

“It’s helpful to be able to give a perspective on how events will play for Trump politically, so being able to say, actually, Mr. President, our perspective is that your political goals will be better delivered by this alternate course of action,” Harrison said. 

Labour seems to be taking this advice, with some urging Starmer to sell a narrative to Trump that it would look weak to allow Putin to triumph too overtly in Ukraine.

“Everything now is about how do we sell it to Donald Trump,” one senior MP said. “We have to convince him that he can’t be the man to allow a surrender — that he could get the Nobel Peace Prize.”

No one’s suggesting Starmer is likely to be garlanded with such an honor — but there are plenty of moderates the world over who would be vastly grateful if he tempered Trump even a little.

Emilio Casalicchio contributed reporting from Washington and Esther Webber and Dan Bloom from London.