It's time to cut Donald Trump loose - before he takes the UK down with him
Brexit left us damaged and vulnerable. But it's not too late for Keir Starmer forge a new path with allies who share our values.
We all have those friends. Unreliable, flaky, perhaps a little two-faced. They’ll smile at you one moment and stab you in the back the next. Such relationships can be testing, but sometimes their redeeming traits – loyalty in the toughest times, a knack for making you smile – make them worth keeping around.
Sadly for Keir Starmer, his friend across the pond does not possess such qualities. The UK prime minister may like to pretend that he and the megalomaniac toddler in the White House share a friendship above politics, but this toxic relationship serves neither him nor the country. Any decent therapist would tell Starmer it’s time to cut Trump off cold turkey – and, crucially, to ask himself why he was drawn to this terrible friend in the first place.
The answer? Brexit. The UK’s post-Brexit fortunes have followed a grimly predictable path. We left our European allies chasing an illusion of economic and sovereign freedom, only to find ourselves weaker on both fronts. Our borders are less controlled than before. Our economy has taken a massive hit from losing our best trading partners. We stand isolated as war rages in Ukraine, our international standing undoubtedly harmed by our delusions of grandeur.
So what now? Brexiteers—consistently wrong about everything thus far—will argue that the UK must rush to strike a deal with Trump. Climb further into his pocket. What could possibly go wrong?
But the most self-destructive move has been our desperate pivot to the US to compensate for Brexit’s economic damage. This might have seemed tolerable when a friendly, liberal administration was in charge – though even under Joe Biden – we failed to secure a meaningful trade deal.
The real mistake was not recognising America’s slow slide into authoritarianism. If Trump’s first presidency was a warning shot, his second will be an execution. Already, Trump has launched an anti-democratic assault on the US. He’s banning books, punishing law firms that oppose him, threatening to disband the Department of Education to limit free thought, and delegitimising judges. He’s deporting immigrants and detaining protesters without due process, suppressing free speech, dismantling diversity initiatives, and threatening the press. Most chillingly, he’s floated the idea of a third term in office and pardoned hundreds of January 6 insurrectionists. His disdain for Western liberal democracy is clear.
Now, his destruction extends beyond America. His cavalier disrespect toward his neighbouring allies - Canada, Mexico, Greenland, Panama - have demonstrated this US president is not the isolationist many hoped, but a capital-hungry imperialist. His newly announced tariffs are just the start - and will send shockwaves through the global economy. The UK, “spared” with a 10 per cent tariff, may think it has escaped lightly, but the wider economic consequences will be devastating. With the EU facing a 20 per cent tariff and China a staggering 53 per cent, a global recession is surely on the horizon.
So what now? Brexiteers—consistently wrong about everything thus far—will argue that the UK must rush to strike a deal with Trump. Climb further into his pocket. What could possibly go wrong?
The adults in the room have a better idea. Trump’s tariffs are not just economic policy; they are tools of destabilisation, designed to undermine international institutions, entrench inequality and give the US unchecked dominance over its allies. They will hurt the poorest in the US and worldwide—while Russia, notably, has escaped unscathed.
Hitching our wagon to Trump would be a disaster. He has no interest in the UK’s fortunes and shares none of our values. He sees us as useful idiots in his expansionist agenda. Instead, we should pivot to allies who share our values. A free trade agreement with allies like the EU and Canada could provide a counterweight to US aggression. A new global order - apart from the US - could strengthen its defences to shield vulnerable economies like Vietnam and Bangladesh from the worst pain. Even negotiation with China—a path the UK was already exploring—may now be necessary.
There is no longer any excuse not to seek closer ties with the EU. Consistent polling shows strong British support for an economic reset that mitigates Brexit’s damage and shields us from Trump’s reign of fury. Already, movements to boycott American products are circulating on social media. If Starmer took advantage of this feeling and pursued it full-force, he would have backing from the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, and even moderate Tories struggling to parrot Kemi Badenoch’s endorsement of Trumpian populism.
Starmer cannot afford to cower before authoritarian bullies. He knows another waits in the wings here in the UK, and strengthening Trump only strengthens his domestic imitators. To capitulate would be existential. It’s time for bravery in a new era. Labour promised change - they now have an opportunity to deliver.
It’s time to learn the lesson we should have grasped long ago: some relationships aren’t just toxic, they’re fatal. They can make us question our sanity and values, they can change who we fundamentally are. Starmer must walk away before the UK finds itself further isolated from its allies, having mistaken dependency for loyalty and self-destruction for strength.
See more of our Westminster Editor Zoë Grünewald writing on a range of political topics, from the inevitable fracturing of Reform, to the short-sighted cutting of international aid budgets, how new austerity is ‘scorched earth policy’ to the political and economic inequality faced by the North of England and civil service cutbacks. Consider becoming a paid supporter of The Lead to receive exclusive additional stories and content from Zoë.