TRUMP: I WILL VISIT LONDON
Vow after talks with May over ‘very, very big’ trade deal
DONALD Trump’s trip to Britain is back on.
It looked as though his state visit had been axed after last month’s Queen’s Speech failed to mention it.
But yesterday Mr Trump insisted he “will be going to London” after hailing the “very special relationship” he had forged with Theresa May as the pair met for talks at the G20 in Hamburg.
He said he expects a “very, very big, very powerful” postBrexit trade deal with the UK to be completed “very, very quickly”.
The President told reporters: “There is no country that could possibly be closer than our countries.”
He vowed yesterday: “I will be going to London, yes,” But asked when, he replied: “We’ll work that out.”
Earlier this year MPs debated the visit after 1.8 million people signed a petition demanding it be scrapped. Mrs May said: “We are working on what a suitable date will be for such a visit.” The PM and Mr
There is no country that could be closer than our two countries DONALD TRUMP AFTER MEETING WITH PM MAY
Trump held 50 minutes of talks yesterday, with an insider saying the atmosphere was “very good”.
But the PM bottled out of bringing up his decision to pull the US out of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. A government official said: “It wasn’t discussed in the meeting.”
But Mrs May insisted they had already spoken about it and added: “I have had a number of conversations with him while I’ve been here.” But German Chancellor Angela Merkel was more forthright, stating that she “deplored” the US withdrawal from the international deal to cut pollution.
Last night it emerged French president Emmanuel Macron called a side meeting with Mrs May, Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull and Mr Trump to agree a statement on Paris 19 of the 20 could agree on without the US signing.
A source said: “Macron asked for words showing their support in the strongest possible terms. It was done.”
Donald Trump’s offer yesterday of a big trade deal with Britain is welcome – his confirmation he will visit us less so.
But as we cannot have one without the other we will just have to grin and bear it.
The complexities of the political world are beyond Mr Trump unless he can squeeze them into 140 characters on Twitter.
So the president will not understand that his promise of a trade agreement “very, very quickly” does not square with the realities of Brexit.
No deal can be done with the US until we have one with the EU. That is at least 20 months away, most likely longer. Brexit is the most complicated, difficult and tortuous negotiation this country has ever attempted. We can only pray that Theresa May is up to it.
Thursday marks a year since she became PM. And what a difference 12 months make.
Back then we might have believed she would deliver “strong and stable” government. Now we are lumbered with a weak and feeble one.
Mrs May’s decision to hold a snap election was ill-judged, her campaign calamitous, and the result a catastrophe for Brexit.
It was never likely Mrs May would call the shots with the EU. With no Parliamentary majority we must now hope any deal is not shot to pieces.
This newspaper wanted Jeremy Corbyn to win the election. And he damn near did. But we accept we might have to endure Mrs May a while longer. There is no mood amongst MPs of any party to go back to the polls.
Many think Mrs May will be in post for two years. Some for a full five.
And politics is a funny game. She may yet redeem herself. After all, Mr Corbyn turned his fortunes round in six weeks. There are signs Mrs May is abandoning the tyrannical style she adopted when she became PM. Indications she will listen more and dictate less.
And that means the Parliament we elected will get more say in how the country is run.
If that leads to an end to austerity, uncapping public sector pay, and funding hospitals and schools properly as Labour called for it is all to the good.
On Thursday we hope Mrs May will reflect on the greatest irony of her premiership so far.
That it has fallen to her to deliver Labour’s manifesto.