Britain must now roll out the red carpet for Donald Trump

I will do all in my power to bridge the divide between the Starmer Government and the President-Elect. It’s in the national interest

They still don’t get it! Perhaps the most enjoyable part of being witness to Donald Trump’s victory – easily the greatest comeback in modern political history – has been watching the reaction of liberal commentators, both in the United Kingdom and in the USA. In their eyes, it is 2016 all over again, as though a dark cloud has descended over the Western world.
This attitude also extends to the Democratic Party, whose chief protagonists are, as I write this from a hotel room in West Palm Beach, giving a press conference in New York. They’re talking about gender alignment and immigrant rights. What none of them can or will see is that Trump has put together a new electoral coalition of the most remarkable breadth.
This is the first time for 20 years that the Republican Party has won a majority of the vote in a US presidential election. Trump managed to do this by getting a record number of black and Hispanic voters to come the Republicans’ way. These communities care about the family, they deeply resent illegal immigrants coming into their country, and they are looking for robust leadership.
The same goes for the under-30s, especially young men who look up to Trump as a figure of strength. Above all else, most Americans wanted an economy that fires on all cylinders. Trump will give that to them.
It is fair to argue that Trump’s victory is bringing American society together in a quite remarkable way, rather than dividing it as liberal commentators choose to think.
That principle of coalition applies to the leadership of the campaign itself. While Trump, by necessity, remained the dominant figure, it was the additions of Elon Musk and Robert Kennedy Jr. that offered the American public the chance to consider what is now a much more extensive Republican Party.
Vice presidential candidate J. D. Vance spoke of aspiration, of the American dream, and of the idea that anyone can succeed regardless of the circumstances from which they come. It is no wonder people found this inspirational.
Trump’s victory will have profound consequences for politics across the Western world, including in the United Kingdom. At the moment, Britain’s energy costs are among the most expensive globally, thanks partly to our socialist government’s green policies. Might Trump’s cheaper energy policies now influence our own?
There are also parallels on the thorny topic of immigration. Legal immigration has been running at record levels in Britain but it is illegal immigration that has really outraged the British public, just as voters in America have become furious by the huge numbers crossing the Rio Grande.
The sense of disconnect between our political class and the people who live outside the M25 is as wide as it is in the USA. Ditto in Europe. Americans have had enough and are looking to Trump to solve the problem. You can bet Britons feel similar impatience.
Those from younger generations with no traditional tie to any political party are beginning to shape a very different future. The vast majority look up to Trump and will, in their way, seek to emulate him. Be in no doubt, politics, including our own, is moving rightwards.
All of this will put pressure on a Labour Party that has been deeply disobliging about Trump.
Perhaps the biggest worry that Sir Keir Starmer faces in policy terms is that Trump has announced a big tariff regime. Britain is, potentially, in a fortunate position. Such tariffs might be avoided – but only by direct negotiations with Team Trump, something of which Starmer’s friends in the European Union would not approve. Which way will Starmer jump?
On defence, I see deep tensions over the surrender of the Chagos Islands, in particular America’s long-term use of the base at Diego Garcia.
Britain is really going to have to roll out the red carpet for Trump very quickly. If we don’t, a great opportunity will be squandered.
I’m overjoyed that this process has already begun, with our very sensible Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, making clear that Trump will be able to address Parliament during his State visit next year.
However, there is no time to waste. If I can be helpful in any way when it comes to bridging the divide that exists between Starmer’s Government and Trump, I will be glad to assist.
I might not agree with almost anything that Starmer and his Cabinet stand for, but I do believe in something called the national interest.