Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: President Trump landed last night for the start of his
Speaker 2: second state visit to Britain, even as the UK hopes
Speaker 2: that a banquet were the King lots of Pomber carriage,
Speaker 2: procession through Windsor Castle and the estate there and a
Speaker 2: meeting at Checkers with the Prime Minister will result in
Speaker 2: investment deals, some of which have already been announced. Kirs
Speaker 2: Starmer's government has quietly dropped talks to try to lower
Speaker 2: the twenty five percent US import levy on UK steel,
Speaker 2: joining US now as Mark Lyle Grant, who is former
Speaker 2: UK Ambassador to the UN and also former National Security
Speaker 2: Advisor to the then Prime Minister twenty fifteen to twenty
Speaker 2: seventeen and joins US now Mark. Good morning, morning, Lovely
Speaker 2: to speak to you. Your service as national Security advisor.
Speaker 2: It overlapped with the beginning of President Trump's first presidency
Speaker 2: and back then you were advising Teresa May. What would
Speaker 2: you be advising Prime Minister Kirs Starmer ahead of this
Speaker 2: visit now?
Speaker 3: Well, I think this visit is a good opportunity for
Speaker 3: Kir Starmer. He's had a difficult couple of weeks with
Speaker 3: high level resignations from his inner team, including just recently
Speaker 3: the British ambassador to Washington. So he will want, I
Speaker 3: think a number of things from this visit. He'll want
Speaker 3: a distraction from some of his domestic concerns. He'll want
Speaker 3: President Trump to be impressed by the sort of pomp
Speaker 3: and circumstances of the royal engagement with the President, and
Speaker 3: he will want some specific things, particularly on trade and investment,
Speaker 3: some of which have already been announced as you mentioned.
Speaker 3: So it's a high event, a high profile event both
Speaker 3: for President Trump but also for Kirstarmer.
Speaker 1: So high profile. But is it also high risk? Is
Speaker 1: the UK making a mistake by aligning itself so closely
Speaker 1: to the US versus other allies when we see other
Speaker 1: countries taking a different path.
Speaker 3: No, I don't think so. I mean when I was
Speaker 3: National Security, as you mentioned during the Trump first term,
Speaker 3: we did have a discussion about, you know, was this
Speaker 3: going to be particularly awkward? There were going to be
Speaker 3: policy differences, but the overwhelming view was that, you know,
Speaker 3: America's our most important ally, It's absolutely essential for us
Speaker 3: in terms of security, intelligence, nuclear defense, etc. And the
Speaker 3: best way to deal with any US president is to
Speaker 3: hug him close. And that goes for President Trump just
Speaker 3: as much as any other American president. Now, of course,
Speaker 3: in his first term there was a conservative government in
Speaker 3: the UK and a sort of slightly chaotic, to say
Speaker 3: the least, Trump administration in Washington. This time you've got
Speaker 3: a more organized and more vigorous Trump administration and a
Speaker 3: labor government in London. So of course there are going
Speaker 3: to be some significant policy differences, and some of those
Speaker 3: will be aired over the next couple of days, particularly
Speaker 3: on the Middle East, but perhaps also on Ukraine and
Speaker 3: issues like free speech. But nonetheless, the same principle applies
Speaker 3: that we are America's best ally and America is our
Speaker 3: most important ally as well, so there has to be
Speaker 3: a close bilateral relationship.
Speaker 2: Of course, But hugging the United States close also does
Speaker 2: mean quite significant intervention by the US in domestic UK politics,
Speaker 2: notably Elon Musk giving significant support to the United the
Speaker 2: Kingdom March over the weekend, which is organized by Tommy
Speaker 2: Robinson and talking about violence is coming to you. You
Speaker 2: either fight back or you die. I mean that Stama
Speaker 2: government had to condemn that kind of inflammatory statement. Does
Speaker 2: it concern you? Should the UK be concerned about the
Speaker 2: threat of political interference.
Speaker 3: I don't think so particularly No, I mean, Elon Musk
Speaker 3: is no longer associated with administration after all, and President
Speaker 3: Trump himself in the run up to this visit has
Speaker 3: been very careful not to criticize the UK or the
Speaker 3: British government in any way, and that again is different
Speaker 3: from his last state visit, when he did issue a
Speaker 3: press interview that was actually rather critical of Tuisa May
Speaker 3: at the time, I recall. So, I think he'll be
Speaker 3: very careful and I don't think that Elon musk staff
Speaker 3: will will interfere. But I think there will be some
Speaker 3: nervousness tomorrow because tomorrow is the political day and there
Speaker 3: will be a joint press conference between Keir Starmer and
Speaker 3: Donald Trump. And in a press conference, there's no doubt
Speaker 3: that journalists are gained to be pressing both men on
Speaker 3: issues that divide them. That's what happens at these press conferences,
Speaker 3: and so I think there'll be a lot of questions
Speaker 3: about Mandelson, There'll be a lot of questions about free
Speaker 3: speech and trying to drive wedges between the two men.
Speaker 3: And of course, with President Trump, one never knows exactly
Speaker 3: what he's going to do in response, so there'll be
Speaker 3: some nervousness in London about how that goes tomorrow.
Speaker 1: What do you think the biggest risk facing Key Starmer
Speaker 1: in this visit.
Speaker 3: Well, I think that is the biggest risk, the press conference.
Speaker 3: You know, the two men get on surprisingly well. We've
Speaker 3: seen for meetings in the White House, meetings in Scotland
Speaker 3: this year already, so I don't think there's any sort
Speaker 3: of personal issue between them. And it's always worth noting
Speaker 3: on these occasions that President Trump is a natural, instinctive
Speaker 3: anglifier for the obvious reasons. His mother was born in Scotland,
Speaker 3: you know, his love of the royal family, the goal
Speaker 3: for all that sort of thing. And that was not
Speaker 3: the case with Joe Biden for sort of Irish reasons,
Speaker 3: and it was not the case for Barack Obama for
Speaker 3: sort of Kenya related reasons. So for the first time
Speaker 3: for a while, we do have an angler file, naturally
Speaker 3: anglifile president in the White House, and that does make
Speaker 3: a difference on these sorts of occasions.
Speaker 2: Putin is seen as a mounting military threat to NATA
Speaker 2: and to Europe. Do you think that Starber will try
Speaker 2: to get Trump to take a harder line on Putin.
Speaker 2: Is that really an avenue you know that would bear fruit?
Speaker 3: Well, it may not bear food, but I'm sure he
Speaker 3: will try because the Europeans, all European governments, have been
Speaker 3: deeply disappointed by President Trump's approach to Putin, the fact
Speaker 3: that he's promised tougher mes is tougher sanctions on numerous
Speaker 3: occasions in recent months and hasn't delivered, and seems to
Speaker 3: be very averse to taking a tougher line with Putin
Speaker 3: or indeed admitting sort of openly that Putin is solely
Speaker 3: responsible for this conflict in Ukraine. So I think that
Speaker 3: will certainly be an item on the agenda for discussion tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Does kir Starmer have a better chance, given that the
Speaker 1: meant the prelections of the presidents he noticed, as he
Speaker 1: noted towards the UK Does he have a better chance
Speaker 1: than other European leaders in getting Trump to do more
Speaker 1: when it comes to Russia and Ukraine.
Speaker 3: I think he does. I think we've seen that in
Speaker 3: the sort of eight months of the Trump presidency so far,
Speaker 3: that he does have an avenue of influence with the
Speaker 3: President Trump. I don't say it's completely unique. I mean
Speaker 3: others have different inns, like the finished president plays golf, etc.
Speaker 3: But nonetheless, I think the closeness of the bilateral relationship
Speaker 3: is very different from the sort of relationship that President
Speaker 3: Trump has with the French leader, the German leader, and others.
Speaker 3: So I think that does give him a certain opportunity
Speaker 3: to exert influence on these big policy issues like Ukraine
Speaker 3: and indeed the Middle East.