Following the pomp and ceremony of Wednesday’s royal portion of US president Donald Trump’s state visit to Britain, Thursday was when the two sides were due to get down to business, with economic and political talks scheduled.
For UK prime minister Keir Starmer, their joint press conference at his Chequers country retreat would always be the moment of maximum danger, when Trump’s freewheeling ways threatened to make it unpredictable.
The group of US and UK journalists admitted to the event readied themselves with questions about thorny issues such as the UK’s impending recognition of the state of Palestine – a clear point of political difference between the two leaders.
But barring a few awkward moments which were smoothed over diplomatically by Trump, Starmer survived the press conference well enough. That would do him nicely, after a torrid fortnight of domestic politics.
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Starmer must have breathed a sigh of relief as he waved the US president off safely on to one of the giant military helicopters whose roar filled the Buckinghamshire air, rustling the trees on this glorious old estate and, surely, startling the local farm animals.
The day had begun with an earlier goodbye for Trump and his wife Melania from King Charles and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle. Trump made the 50km trip to Chequers on Marine One, the US military helicopter that is his personal taxi.
Journalists gathered in the morning at the nearby RAF Halton airbase, before being bussed in on a route that meandered down closed-off country lanes and past battalions of heavily-armed security.
The British were clearly taking no chances with the president’s safety, especially after last week’s assassination of Trump propagandist Charlie Kirk.
The US president had been kept well away from the crowds at Windsor, while his London welcome consisted of a noisy gathering in Westminster of 10,000 protesters. How might locals in bucolic Buckinghamshire react to the intrusion of the travelling Trump circus in to their Thursday afternoon?
[ Trump visit provides Britons with another excuse to row among themselvesOpens in new window ]
As the media bus – with “Media” emblazoned across the front – wound its way through the village of Wendover on its way Chequers, one local woman with dreadlocks who was out walking her dog gave her own, acerbic verdict: a scowl and the middle finger.
Media were sequestered in a tent near the Chequers retreat’s outhouses while up in the big house, Trump and Starmer met business leaders to discuss an estimated £250 billion of deals. The two leaders also grabbed an hour of one-to-one time upstairs, where they would later confirm they discussed issues including Gaza and Ukraine.
Following the talks, Trump and the US first lady, Melania Trump, as well as Starmer and his wife, Victoria, appeared in the back garden of the house to watch the Red Devils of the British Army perform a parachute jump into the garden.
Then journalists were shepherded in to the Great Hall of the main house for the 3pm press conference, where the two leaders would appear moments later.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Howard Lutnick, Trump’s commerce chief, milled about at the top of the grand hall, beneath paintings of historical figures such as King Henry VIII. Even Old Coppernose himself might not have entered a room with such regal sway as Trump, whose entourage broke into sustained applause.
Starmer seemed somewhat bemused by it all. The UK prime minister played it safe, musing on the close business and military relationship between the two nations that “trade together, and fight together”.
“We are ready to define this century together, just as we did the last,” said Starmer. Meanwhile, Trump, his shoulders hunched for much of the time, seemed to be on his best behaviour.
“We are forever joined, forever friends and we will always be friends,” said the US president. “The US and UK have done more good on this planet than any two nations in history.” Starmer looked as if he could levitate with happiness at that exact moment.
The questions rained in. Trump responded to a query about Ukraine by saying that the Russian president Vladimir Putin had “let me down” by not agreeing a peace deal. But he insisted it would eventually “get done”.
The US president also acknowledged the gap between himself and Starmer on the recognition of Palestine: “I have a disagreement with the prime minister on that score.”
But he also performatively clapped the prime minister on the back when Starmer said that Hamas could play no part in any government of Palestine. It served to smooth over the gap between them in that rather awkward moment for the prime minister.
Trump revealed that the US is talking to the Taliban in Afghanistan about the potential return to US control of the Bagram airbase, which was abandoned under Joe Biden.
“We’re trying to get it back – they [the Taliban] need things from us,” said Trump, who noted that Bagram was an hour away from where China manufactures nuclear weapons.
The leaders swatted away questions on touchy subjects such as the sacking last week of Peter Mandelson, the UK ambassador in Washington, over his links to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Rather curiously, given they had met several times, Trump even claimed that he “didn’t know” Mandelson.
After an hour in which much could have gone wrong for Starmer, the press conference wrapped up safely from his point of view.
The helicopters roared in and the US president departed. Starmer took a risk by inviting Trump to the UK. He is perhaps entitled to feel that it was worth it.
