âYouâve been tricked! You've been had! Hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Now, what are you going to do about it?â - Unknown
Trump is a bully, a narcissist and a liar. Despite this our Prime Minister shamefully ingratiated himself in order to curry favour and was one of the first European leaders to sign up to a trade deal.
âStarmer praises Trump for trade deal that is âtruly historicâ.â (Metro: 08/05/25)
Starmerâs naivety knows no bounds.  When will he learn that would be dictators donât do favours unless it benefits them?
He was not alone in his gullibility.
The Independent had this gushing headline:
âStarmer praised as UK outshines EU in Trump trade talks.â (04/04/25)
On top of this, Trump himself heaped praise on Starmer calling him a âgreat negotiatorâ and a "great diplomat", assuring him the UK was âvery well protected from tariffsâ.
Hooray! The special relationship was alive and well and working in Britainâs favour.
In return for a 25% tariff on steel, a 10% tariff on aluminium and a 25% tariff on automobiles and auto parts ( most tariffs averaged 2-3% before Trump) Starmer agreed to allow more American beef into the country, thereby threatening British farmers, and he wilfully sacrificed homegrown bioethanol production, allowing US bioethanol in at prices British companies cannot compete with. In addition, he offered Trump the opportunity to make an unprecedented second state visit to the UK with full honours. Clever Mr Starmer!
Starmer has been basking in the glory of this âhistoric trade deal" ever since. Well, up until today that is. This is the headline from the Daily Express:
âDonald Trump sneakily slaps UK with tariffs on hundreds of products - up to 25%.â  (24/08/25)
In a move described by UK industry leaders as âblindsiding,â President Donald Trump has stealthily expanded 25% tariffs to cover 400 additional categories of UK goods, ranging from washing machines to aluminium-packaged shampoos and babyfood. Industry leaders have described these unexpected tariffs as âa complete surprise" and âvery damaging" to British industry.
In his pursuit of international stature, Keir Starmer has compromised key domestic interests, notably the UKâs beef farming sector and its biofuel production capacity. Rather than adopting a posture of principled negotiation, Starmer has opted for symbolic overturesâflattering rhetoric, ceremonial gestures, and even correspondence from the monarch proposing a second state visitâall in an effort to âplay Trump.â Yet it is Starmer who has been misled. If the details hidden in the small print of the deal were overlooked, the question must be asked: was this a failure of due diligence, or a calculated risk that underestimated the consequences?
