9 h. ago Keir Starmer 'hopes to win over Donald Trump in tariffs row with trip to Scotland to meet the King

Although the trip is not directly linked to diplomatic efforts to improve tariffs between the UK and the US, some Whitehall officials are hoping that the royal itinerary makes way for constructive talks.

Politics

40 h. ago Britain can retaliate or negotiate with Trump – but there is no way we can win at this game | Gaby Hinsliff

Starmer will try to calm the situation and focus on May’s local elections, but one thing is clear: our ties with Europe are more crucial than everNobody wins a trade war. You can lose it by greater or lesser degrees: you may be one of the luckier casualties. But that’s about as good as it gets. So, while there will have been initial relief in Downing Street on Wednesday night, a feeling even that Keir Starmer’s placating of Donald Trump looks vindicated, what followed was no victory lap.How could it be, after that grotesquely swaggering show trial the president staged in the White House garden, all the better to jazz up an economic assault on what were once his country’s allies? Come on down, Britain, escaping with just the minimum 10% tariff on its exports to the US and no drive-by insults! Better than Taiwan (32% plus a lecture about how the US used to build all the semiconductors once), Vietnam (“They like me, I like them” but still a brutal 46%), the EU (“very very tough traders...

Politics

3 d. ago Donald Trump has approved Chagos Islands 'surrender' deal, says No10, paving the way for £9billion deal to give strategic archipelago to Mauritius

Hopes has been high among opponents of Sir Keir Starmer's plan to hand over the strategically important archipelago - and £9billion - that the US president might veto it.

Economics

7 d. ago How has fascism in Britain got this far? Neoliberalism has opened the door for it | George Monbiot

Neoliberalism destroys democratic hope and the far right fills the political void. We need a new politics of belonging, not Labour’s craven appeasement of capitalThe democratic recession does not begin when a far-right party takes office. It begins when a centrist party crushes hope in democracy. When Keir Starmer’s government takes a chainsaw to people’s aspirations for a fairer, greener, kinder country, he cuts off not just faith in the Labour party but faith in politics itself. The almost inevitable result, as countries from the US to the Netherlands, Argentina to Austria, Italy to Sweden show, is to let the far right in.So what’s the game? Why adopt policies that could scarcely be better calculated to prevent your re-election? Why stick to outdated fiscal rules when projections suggest they’ll make almost everyone worse off, especially those in poverty? Why impose devastating attacks on wellbeing, such as sustaining the two-child benefit cap, freezing local housing allowance and...

Politics

1 week ago ‘Bold but significant risk’: Fifa pulling out all the stops to sell Club World Cup

With ticket sales slow and concerns over burnout, football’s governing body is battling to win hearts and mindsThis week president Donald Trump convened a prayer meeting in the Oval Office. Gathered around the Resolute desk, constructed from the timbers of a British naval vessel, a series of pastors laid their hands on the president’s thinning hair and prayed for his success. The only other item on the desk? The enormous intricate bauble that will serve as the trophy for Fifa’s Club World Cup.That Trump should like the look of an object lacquered in 24-carat gold plating, and designed by the New York jewellers Tiffany & Co, is not perhaps a huge surprise. But its prominent position on the world’s most consequential desktop will surely also have been welcomed by the president of Fifa, Gianni Infantino, who left the trophy with Trump this month on his visit to the White House, a week after Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Appeals court lifts blocks on Trump's orders restricting diversity, equity and inclusion programs

An appeals court on Friday lifted a block on executive orders seeking to end government support for diversity, equity and inclusion programs, handing the Trump administration a win after a string of setbacks defending President Donald Trump’s agenda against dozens of lawsuits

Politics

3 w. ago Keir Starmer shies away from a 'tariff war' with Donald Trump and pins his hopes on a 'prize' trade deal with the US to dodge a fresh economic hit

The Prime Minister admitted he was 'disappointed' that Mr Trump had imposed 25 per cent taxes on imports of steel and aluminium to America.

Economics

3 w. ago Starmer urges Trump to resume Ukraine aid and intelligence sharing in call ahead of crucial talks between US and Kyiv in Saudi Arabia

Keir Starmer voiced hope that there will be a 'positive outcome' in talks between Washington and Kyiv, due to take place in Saudi Arabia.

Politics

3 w. ago Keir Starmer hopes to finalise a peacekeeping plan for Ukraine this week

The Prime Minister (left) will continue his diplomatic push in a bid to reach a more 'concrete' blueprint for peace which can be presented to Washington.

Politics

3 w. ago Tim Walz says he and Harris were too ‘safe’ during 2024 presidential campaign

Former vice-presidential candidate claims pair should have held more in-person events around the USTim Walz has said he and Kamala Harris were too “safe” during their 2024 election campaign, with the former vice-presidential candidate claiming they should have held more in-person events around the US.“We shouldn’t have been playing this thing so safe,” Walz, the governor of Minnesota, said in an interview with Politico, as Democrats seek to learn the lessons of Donald Trump’s win in November, which has sent the party into the political wilderness. Continue reading...

Politics