Trump versus May

Afford President some respect

IT SPEAKS volumes about President Donald Trump, and the level of controversy preceding his visit to Britain, that none of his predecessors – including George W Bush at the height of the Iraq war – attracted such a level of criticism and condemnation.

Yet it is also right that Theresa May meets President Trump in spite of his petulance at the G7 summit; his behaviour towards Nato leaders at this week’s summit and his apparent endorsement of the Brexit stance taken by Boris Johnson, the now former Foreign Secretary.

Even though nobody – not least President Trump himself – appears to know what the de facto leader of the free world is going to say, do or tweet next, it does not justify those who believe that Britain should snub him.

After all, he’s the democratically-elected leader of Britain’s closest ally – a status that demands respect – and myriad challenges, like defence spending and the possibility of a post-Brexit UK-US trade deal, require diplomacy and dialogue rather than the type of immature gesture politics advocated by some.

Yet, while the body language between President Trump and Mrs May at Nato showed that this is no special relationship, the PM should still view the visit as an opportunity rather than another diplomatic disaster waiting to happen. For, if she can find a polite way of standing up to President Trump, she might earn the grudging respect of others and signal to the EU that she won’t be a Brexit pushover.