LATIKA M BOURKE: Keir Starmer’s Donald Trump talk gives Albanese blueprint to dealing with US President

Keir Starmer’s trip to Washington was a masterclass and a demonstration of how confronting the challenges of office can be the making of a leader.

The UK prime minister has given Anthony Albanese a roadmap for how to deal with MAGA’s warrior-in-chief, as Australia too pleads for exemptions from tariffs and hopes to bed down Presidential support for AUKUS – a project the US President questioned the meaning of when asked directly about it for the first time.

Unlike the Australian Prime Minister who enjoyed a prolonged media and polling honeymoon, Sir Keir had a woeful start to government following his election in July last year.

The UK Labour leader has looked adrift in office, with little agenda, having run an Australian-like small target strategy to win power.

But Donald Trump’s return to the White House and the jolt of alarm his threats to NATO, Ukraine’s sovereignty and Europe’s security have sparked appears to have helped Sir Keir find a direction and focus he had previously struggled to chart.

Ahead of his trip to the White House, in what was easily his most important diplomatic mission to date, Sir Keir copied Elon Musk in slashing (although not entirely abolishing) Britain’s foreign aid budget to pay for fast-tracking increases to defence spending.

It meant that when he sat down in the Oval Office, he had two gifts in his kitty to hand Mr Trump, the other being a letter from King Charles for a State Visit – it would be Trump’s second as President.

Sir Keir deftly extracted Mr Trump’s assurance of a visit to the UK as the television cameras rolled.

The purpose of Sir Keir’s visit was to issue two pleas: don’t abandon Ukraine – and by extension Europe and NATO; and don’t impose tariffs on the UK.

The US President emerged from his meeting with Sir Keir praising him as a “very tough negotiator” and proposing a trade deal.

“I’m not sure I liked that,” he joked.

“He was working hard, I tell you that, he earned whatever the hell they pay him over there.

“I think we have a very good chance at arriving at a very good deal.

“We’ll see.”

While Trump’s statements can expire in value the moment he says them, there were meaningful steps made in Britain’s and the West’s favour as a result of the UK leader’s visit.

On Article 5, the collective defence principle inherent to NATO, which Mr Trump has already sought to undermine with his attacks on Europe, he said: “I support it, I don’t think we’re going to have any reason for it.”

He did not repeat his criticism of Ukraine’s President Volodomyr Zelensky and insisted that the deal he wanted to strike between Russia and Ukraine would last.

Mr Trump hosts Mr Zelensky on Friday and the pair are expected to sign a minerals agreement. Europe and Ukraine still want Mr Trump to commit the US to provide security guarantees to uphold any ceasefire agreed with Russia.

That’s still a work in progress, although Mr Trump suggested that US workers “digging” in Ukraine for its critical minerals would constitute a US presence on the ground.

All in all, it couldn’t have gone better for Sir Keir, who deftly dealt with the thorniest of issues where he has been vocal in stating his differences with Mr Trump, including on Gaza, on Ukraine and the outrageous claim that Ukraine’s leader Mr Zelensky is a dictator.

Even when it came to a question about how the UK leader felt about Mr Trump wanting to deprive the King of one of his realms in Canada, which Mr Trump has said he wants to annex, Sir Keir avoided a potential storm.

“I think you’re trying to find a divide between us that doesn’t exist,” Sir Keir told the reporter.

“That’s enough,” Mr Trump said abruptly, although it appeared the brusque tone was intended for the media rather than Mr Starmer, whom the US President lavished praise on for his “beautiful accent”, having previously admired his wife.

Sir Keir will return to Number 10 ahead of his meeting with 18 European leaders in London on Sunday, buoyed by his trip across the pond.

Despite expectations that it would be the right-wing populists in Europe, Hungary’s Victor Orban or Italy’s Georgia Meloni, who would serve as Europe’s Trump whisperer, it is looking like it may be the Labour leader.

Sir Keir is the unlikeliest candidate of all to play this role. Ironically, although he spearheaded the push for a second EU referendum, he is the leader set to benefit the most from the post-Brexit dividends almost a decade after the vote.

Mr Trump despises Europe, believing it was created to “screw the United States”. If he delivers the UK a deal, it would be the crown jewel of trade deals the Brexiteers had always promised and the Remainers jeered.

Barack Obama famously said the UK would be put at the “back of the queue” should it vote to leave the single market.

The only real moment of concern was when Mr Trump was asked if they would discuss AUKUS.

“What does that mean?” Trump said, when queried on the plan for Australia to acquire American and then British nuclear-propelled submarines.

This will cause alarm in Australia given it is the country’s most expensive and crucial military capability to date.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told the media last month that Mr Trump supported it, but when the US President was asked directly about AUKUS for the first time, his response wasn’t exactly the rubber stamp of reassurance Australians would like.

There is an argument that the less Mr Trump personally knows about AUKUS the better, given Mr Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz all support it.

Mr Trump himself is dedicated to restoring American shipbuilding, and while Australia’s AUKUS acquisition does impose a strain on the US industrial base, it more than pays its way. Australian taxpayers have already sent $US500 million ($792m) to the US Treasury.

So Mr Trump’s apparent ignorance of the project is better placed in the forgetful moment or not-quite-understanding-the-question file and, as such, doesn’t necessitate panic just yet.

But it does raise questions about Australia’s under-the-radar approach to dealing with the Trump Administration and if Mr Albanese’s preference to stay as far out of Mr Trump’s orbit as possible is the right strategy.

In ideal world, Mr Trump would not only know about AUKUS but be an enthusiastic backer, knowing how it supports US shipyards and extends allied capability in the Indo-Pacific to help prevent Chinese dominance of shipping routes.

Mr Albanese has appeared cavalier about when he plans to meet Trump, pointing to a Quad leaders meeting in New Delhi, slated for June – well after the election – as their first likely get-together. Is this the wisest approach?

As one of Mr Trump’s former National Security Advisers, HR McMaster told The Nightly earlier this month, Mr Trump needed help from his counterparts in helping him understand how what he said at home could be viewed abroad.

“President Trump does learn, he does listen and he learns conversationally,” McMaster said.

“He’s a very gracious host … the visits he has in person are very important.

“It’s important to engage President Trump, have these conversations with him and help him understand better how what he says is received abroad, rather than at a political rally in Ohio.”

SIr Keir’s approach shows that being from the other side of the political divide doesn’t necessarily matter to Mr Trump, but fronting up, putting forward your case in a tough, firm but respectful way does.

And if Mr Albanese needs any tips, all he needs to do is phone his mate, Sir Keir, for some helpful advice.