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Sir Keir Starmer was pulled away from the second half of his beloved Arsenal’s semi-final to firm up the final details of the US trade deal with Donald Trump.
The Prime Minister admitted that he “didn’t know the exact day” the agreement with the White House would come, but less than 24 hours after he was watching that Champions League semi-final, Sir Keir had been beamed into the Oval Office to virtually confirm the new transatlantic trading arrangements.
US import taxes that had threatened to cripple British high-end carmakers have been cut from 27.5% to 10%, while the 25% tariff on steel has also been removed. The blanket 10% tariff imposed on all imports by Mr Trump as part of his sweeping “liberation day” announcement remains in place.
A series of events was kickstarted around 14 hours before the PM’s press conference at Solihull’s Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) plant, with a TruthSocial post from the president just before 2am London time.
Mr Trump wrote on his own social media platform at dinner time Wednesday in Washington, promising a “Big News Conference” on Thursday about a “MAJOR TRADE DEAL WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF A BIG, AND HIGHLY RESPECTED, COUNTRY”.
US media, including the New York Times, reported that the agreement was with the UK and Number 10 confirmed by Thursday breakfast that the Prime Minister would be speaking “later” on the negotiations between the two countries that had been continuing “at pace”.
Sir Keir Starmer had likely expected to spend Thursday marking the 80th anniversary of VE Day, but instead he sped to the West Midlands at the conclusion of the Westminster Abbey service
“The timing couldn’t be more apt,” he told Mr Trump in the phone call that was broadcast on television.
“Not only was it 80 years ago today that victory came for Europe after and at the end of the Second World War, but of course, on that the UK and the US stood together as the closest of allies”.
Asked whether the UK had been “bounced” into the announcement by the US to improve the president’s headlines at home, Sir Keir said that “our teams have been hard at work for weeks on end”.
The Prime Minister said that he is “not ashamed” of wanting to get a deal over the line and wanting to do so “in a timely manner”.
“No, I didn’t know the exact day. I wouldn’t have been having my phone call with President Trump halfway through the second half of the Arsenal PSG game had I planned it better, but that’s the way it turned out.
“That’s the discussion we were having late last night about how we proceeded with this deal.”
It was not just the Prime Minister who was surprised by the timing.