November 9, 2024 - 1:00pm
Recent days have seen the British Labour Government on the receiving end of much mockery about Donald Trump’s sweeping victory in the US presidential election. The party’s leading lights have been subjected to an exercise in offence archaeology so thorough as to make the dig for King Tut’s tomb seem a minor undertaking in comparison.
Pundits have correctly noted how Nigel Farage has far better relations with the entire Trump operation than any Government minister. Yet whether or not Keir Starmer takes up the Reform UK leader’s offer to act as a “bridge” between his administration and Trump’s incoming one, who can doubt that effective working relationships will ultimately be established? That’s just what happens with UK and US governments, even with one as unorthodox as Trump’s.
What has been missed is another looming party-political battle for the ear of this new Right-wing American regime: the one between Farage’s Reform and the Conservative Party. While new Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch congratulated Trump in the Commons on Wednesday and enjoyed making Foreign Secretary David Lammy squirm about his previous statements, the Tories clearly aren’t in a good place on this score.
During the Conservative leadership contest, Robert Jenrick was widely criticised by colleagues for saying that he would vote for Trump were he a US citizen, while Badenoch’s reply when asked if she preferred Trump or Kamala Harris was: “I like them both equally.” This was widely interpreted as meaning she disliked them both equally.
Aside from Liz Truss, the weight of commentary from the Tory grandee class was firmly against Trump and for Harris. The super-connected Michael Gove backed Harris as “the lesser of two evils”, while former party leader William Hague described Trump as “a nasty individual” who “must lose” during a radio rant on polling day itself.
This Tory establishment mindset will be recognised by Trump and his key allies as being identical to the snooty hostility exhibited towards him by the US Republican Party establishment before he cleared them out. And Trump himself is surely likely to view his friend Farage as his British equivalent in terms of seeking to reorganise the Right around a national-conservative programme and away from the high liberalism of global free trade and open borders.
Naturally, the Starmer regime will regard Farage’s offer to be a link man to Trump “in the national interest” with suspicion, thinking it far more likely that the Reform leader is seeking to further his own interest and underline his standing with Britain’s most important ally. And yet, needs must.
The requirement to forge effective working relationships quickly is immense. The fate of Ukraine, the US commitment to Nato and the prospect of Trump imposing trade tariffs are all first-order concerns. Securing continued full intelligence-sharing is also a vital British interest, and the Foreign Office will want to bind the Trump administration into continuity of policy towards Israel. Is it worth giving Farage a status uplift in return for beating a similarly disconnected EU to the American top table? There must be a strong case for that.
And there is a potential silver lining to being seen to use Farage as a conduit. Imagine a Trump visit to the UK next year in which both Starmer and Farage were seen to have plenty of time with the President, but the Tories were left out in the cold beyond minimal courtesies.
By appointing Priti Patel as Shadow Foreign Secretary, Badenoch has put in place someone who has not spoken ill of Trump and is far more compatible with his style and policy agenda than her more patrician predecessor Andrew Mitchell would have been. That’s before getting to the last Tory foreign secretary, David Cameron.
But, in general, the current Conservative hierarchy has far better contacts with the disappearing Mitt Romney end of the Republican Party than it does with those riding on the Trump train. It has long been obvious to astute observers of British politics that the “One Nation” strand of Toryism no longer has a substantial constituency of domestic electoral support. That it has also become kryptonite in terms of foreign and diplomatic policy will be another well-deserved blow to its still exaggerated sense of self-esteem.
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SubscribeNot relevant to this article but it looks like Mr. Fazi’s has just been memory holed…
https://www.thomasfazi.com/p/what-really-happened-at-the-amsterdam
There were only 3000 fans, total. How many were hooligans? I guess those displaying Palestinian flags should welcome a dose of their own medicine, chants in the streets and such. . Are there lots of homes displaying Israeli flags? Now ask yourself, why not? After all the actual unpleasantness started when people displayed Palestinian flags when when an Israeli team was coming to town. Fazi might be a bit biased though I’m sure he is just responding to the main stream media bias. Sure.
All the main media outlets largely described it as anti Jewish violence. In the BBC article you had to get right to end before there were a couple of token sentences that mentioned the behaviour of the Maccabi fans in the run up to the match
We don’t follow the cant of the cbc around here. And as far as I can read, it sounds like he writes for them. Or bbc as the case may be.
Presumably not all those displaying Palestinian flags gave out the “medicine” you suggest they should welcome be visited on them. Or support Hamas and its atrocities.
Quite possibly they support the existence of a Palestinian state…the “two state” solution supported by many states, and show their support by exhibiting the flag. Who knows?
What is certain is that attacking those displaying the flags does no good to any cause.
Thanks for that, much appreciated. And thank god for a medium, the Internet, which allows contrary views, and evidence, to be published and assessed by the public…so far!
Of course the real point is that one had expected that Unherd was somewhat better than the MSM…apparently not.
Disappointing in the extreme…
I noticed that. The comments have disappeared, and the article seems to disappear, reappear then disappears again.
Anything vaguely critical of Israel often gets reported on here so I’m not really surprised. Many on here are no better than the woke, banging on about free speech until they read something they don’t agree with
The people commenting here are much closer to being individuals then the woken.
It’s starting to look like the other side of the same depressing coin unfortunately. Most nuance has long since disappeared from the comments section, it’s much more of an echo chamber than it used to be
Expect it in your own heart. Don’t despair until it is no longer there.
I’m prepared to entertain the idea that Jewish fans acted poorly. Do we have reports of Arab injuries? I haven’t seen any. Maybe I’m wrong.
It can only be imagined that Starmer would sooner appoint Emily Maitlis as special envoy to Washington than advance Farage’s career one jot.
In my minds eye I have this vignette playing, whereby Trump, on the subject of trade, says something like:
“Let me tell you, Great Britain has been an incredible friend to America for a long, long time—very special relationship, really one of the best. And a strong, positive relationship between our two countries depends on great trade, the best trade. So, I’m going to say it: there’s nobody better than my good friend Nigel Farage to act as the UK’s trade envoy. I know he’s going to do an absolutely terrific job securing a fantastic deal—one that works for Britain and America. Believe me, it’s going to be great!”
And Starmer chokes on his morning bowl of Frosties . . .
Lol. I could hear Trump in my head. Awesome.
Except Starmer won’t choke on his Frosties because he can big up Farage and damage the Tories. A trade deal with the US brokered by Farage working with Starmer would consign Badenoch to tne margins.
“Badenoch’s reply when asked if she preferred Trump or Kamala Harris was: “I like them both equally.” This was widely interpreted as meaning she disliked them both equally.”
Odd interpretation. She was just being sensibly diplomatic as opposed to the usual mindless Lammy loose tongue approach. Given that two of the people she has highlighted her admiration for were anti-woke US writers – Dr Thomas Sowell and Jonathan Haidt – she is likely to be on the same page as Donald Trump and J D Vance in a way that Starmer certainly isn’t.
The author was a Social Democrat Party MEP ex UKIP so no bias there!
The article puts forward the author’s point of view, which naturally carries his bias. It is open to dispute, as you have.
I believe he is right that “One Nation” Toryism no longer has electoral appeal. We will have to see if Badenoch reverts to that comfortable, but failing, zone. I suspect she will.
She won’t revert to the One Nation model. Whatever one thinks of her, she’s smart.
“Trump himself is surely likely to view his friend Farage as his British equivalent in terms of seeking to reorganise the Right around a national-conservative programme and away from the high liberalism of global free trade and open borders.“
Whilst I share Farages disdain for the UK immigration system, he’s the polar opposite in terms of myself when it comes to trade and financial policy. Farage is a hardcore neoliberal Thatcherite, to think he’s suddenly going to pivot and become in favour of trade tariffs and support for key industries is incredibly naive
My understanding is that even Trump supports free trade in theory. He regards tariffs as a necessary evil (because others don’t play fair), not as an intrinsic good.
Like much circulating at the moment in the post election euphoria this just another fantasy yet to run into reality. This will carry on during the transition and for a few months post, before settling down.
Firstly Trump tariff rhetoric will get watered down considerably by his desire to avoid inflation (and a considerable risk with US econ at full capacity), and also because he sits there watching the stock market far more than he should. It’s all a negotiating bluff. He’ll carry on with what Biden did on China, which to be fair he largely inherited from Trump. Secondly he dislikes EU more than the UK so whilst he knows we are weakened in any negotiation by not being part of the EU he may back off singling UK out. All that does is push us faster back towards the EU and he won’t want that. And thirdly he may not be a fan of social democrats like Starmer but he recognises this is a leader who’s going to be in power longer than he is with a big majority. He has respect for that. Starmer’s not stupid either. He’ll handle Trump as well as anyone behind closed doors, not that this is easy though,but you can see already he’s been smart.
Farage has no power, and thus for now no more than a pundit. Reform implodes anyway the moment it has to put together a proper Policy portfolio and front-up other potential Ministers. It’s not blessed in this department is it.
But Author is correct that Kemi’s attempts to embarrass Starmer likely to rebound. Tories made as many anti-Trump statements as other Lab politicians. It’s not got started yet but her life-death struggle is with Farage not Starmer.
CINOs and RINOS unite! You have nothing to lose but your disdains.