Starmer goes all-in on Trump love-in – and steals a notoriously familiar slogan
The globe-trotting prime minister has hit back at his critics – and cosied up to Donald Trump like never before.
After claims by opponents that he spends too much time abroad, Sir Keir Starmer has insisted his travels are in the UK’s interests.
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A reminder: in just under five months as PM, Sir Keir has made 10 overseas trips and spent 26 days out of the country.
To be fair, those trips have included five international summits: the UN, G7, G20, COP29 on climate change and the Commonwealth heads of government.
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When Lammy and Starmer met Trump
So it was no surprise that in the luxurious medieval splendour of the Guildhall in the City of London, Sir Keir made the case for clocking up the air miles.
In white tie and tails – unlike Labour predecessor Gordon Brown, who stubbornly refused to change out of his lounge suit – he was addressing the annual Lord Mayor’s Banquet, which dates back to 1502.
Sir Keir looked dapper upon arrival. Pic: PA
US or Europe? Why not both?
As ever on these glittering occasions, when traditionally the PM addresses ambassadors, business chiefs and City grandees about international affairs, the PM’s speech was a world tour.
And, significantly, he began with a charm offensive aimed at Donald Trump – no mention of Joe Biden, incidentally – and rejected claims that the UK should choose between the US and Europe.
Clement Attlee didn’t choose and nor did Sir Winston Churchill, he said. Was he claiming to be the heir to Labour’s hero Attlee? No surprise about that. But Churchill, the Tories’ all-time hero? Really?
The national interest, Sir Keir said, demands that the UK works with the US and Europe – a clear reference to his ambition to secure trade deals with both.
The PM was able to reflect on plenty of recent foreign trips. Pic: PA
The Trump love-in
But then came the attempt at a Trump love-in. First, he hailed the “special relationship”, which cynics always claim the UK clings to much more than Americans do.
And then he recalled how the president-elect had “graciously hosted me for dinner in Trump Tower”. So gracious that Foreign Secretary David Lammy has since admitted tucking into a second helping of chicken.
But then Sir Keir revealed this: “I told him that we will invest more deeply than ever in this transatlantic bond with our American friends in the years to come.”
Will that impress Mr Trump? A few hours earlier in the Commons, Nigel Farage had told MPs that the Trump team are “appalled” by Sir Keir’s Chagos Islands deal.
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A stolen slogan
After a ritual attack on the Conservatives, who “turned their back on the world” and left a “shocking legacy”, he vowed – provocatively quoting the Brexit slogan – to “take back control”.
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Starmer on relationship with Trump
Yet on what looks like dithering by the government over committing to spending 2.5% of national income (GDP) on defence, there was no pledge or timetable – just a promise to “set out a clear pathway”, whatever that means.
On Ukraine, he pledged support “for as long as it takes… to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position for negotiations” – the first time he’s spoken publicly about talks with Russia to end the war.
Sir Keir ended by taking on his critics again, over his talks with China’s President Xi. “We can’t simply look the other way,” he said. “We need to engage.”
And his final words were emphatic. “Britain is back,” he declared.
Britain may be back. But so is Donald Trump. And Sir Keir left his audience of diplomats and dignitaries in no doubt that he wants to do business with him.
Tulip Siddiq has told Sky News her “lawyers are ready” to handle any formal questions about allegations she is involved in corruption in Bangladesh.
Asked whether she regrets apparent links with the Bangladeshi Awami League political party, Ms Siddiq said “why don’t you look at my legal letter and see if I have any questions to answer… [the Bangladeshi authorities] have not once contacted me and I’m waiting to hear from them”.
The London MP resigned as a Treasury minister in January after being named in several corruption inquiries in Bangladesh.
In her first public comments since leaving government, Ms Siddiq said “there’s been allegations for months on end and no one has contacted me”.
Last month, the interim leader of Bangladesh told Sky News the MP had “wealth left behind” in the country “and should be made responsible”.
Lawyers acting for Ms Siddiq wrote to the Bangladeshi Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) several weeks ago saying the allegations were “false and vexatious”.
The letter said the ACC must put questions to Ms Siddiq “by no later than 25 March 2025” or “we shall presume that there are no legitimate questions to answer”.
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Staff from the NCA visited Bangladesh as part of initial work to support the interim government in the country.
In a post online today, the former minister said the deadline had expired and the authorities had not replied.
Sky News has approached the Bangladeshi government for comment.
The allegations against Ms Siddiq are focused on links to her aunt Sheikh Hasina – who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh for 20 years.
Ms Hasina was forced to flee the country in August following weeks of deadly protests.
She is accused of becoming an autocrat, with politically-motivated arrests, extra-judicial killings and other abuses allegedly happening on her watch. Hasina claims it’s all a political witch hunt.
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Ms Siddiq was found to have lived in several London properties that had links back to the Awami League political party that her aunt still leads.
She referred herself to the prime minister’s standards adviser Sir Laurie Magnus who said he had “not identified evidence of improprieties” but added it was “regrettable” Ms Siddiq had not been more alert to the “potential reputational risks” of the ties to her aunt.
Ms Siddiq said continuing in her role would be “a distraction” for the government but insisted she had done nothing wrong.
Cryptocurrency exchange OKX reportedly hired former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to advise it over the federal probe that resulted in the firm pleading guilty to several violations and agreeing to pay $505 million in fines and penalties.
Cuomo, a New York-registered attorney, advised OKX on legal issues stemming from the probe sometime after August 2021 when he resigned as New York overnor, Bloomberg reported on April 2, citing people familiar with the matter.
“He spoke with company executives regularly and counseled them on how to respond to the criminal investigation,” Bloomberg said.
The Seychelles-based firm pled guilty to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business in violation of US Anti-Money Laundering laws on Feb. 24 and agreed to pay $84 million worth of penalties while forfeiting $421 million worth of fees earned from mostly institutional clients.
The breaches occurred from 2018 to 2024 despite OKX having an official policy preventing US persons from transacting on its crypto exchange since 2017, the Department of Justice noted at the time.
A spokesperson for Cuomo, Rich Azzopardi, told Bloomberg that Cuomo has been providing private legal services representing individuals and corporations on a variety of matters since resigning as New York governor.
“He has not represented clients before a New York city or state agency and routinely recommends former colleagues for positions,” Azzopardi added.
OKX reportedly wasn’t willing to comment on its relationships with outside firms.
Cuomo also influenced OKX to make executive appointments: Bloomberg
Cuomo, who is now running for mayor of New York City, also advised OKX to appoint his friend US Attorney Linda Lacewell to OKX’s board of directors, Bloomberg said.
Lacewell, a former superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, was added to the board in 2024 and was named OKX’s new chief legal officer on April 1, according to a recent company statement.
Source: Linda Lacewell
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After the investigation concluded, OKX said it would seek out a compliance consultant to remedy the issues stemming from the federal probe and bolster its regulatory compliance program.
“Our vision is to make OKX the gold standard of global compliance at scale across different markets and their respective regulatory bodies,” OKX CEO Star Xu said in a Feb. 24 X post.
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United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing reciprocal tariffs on trading partners and a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries.
The reciprocal levies on will be approximately half of what trading partners charge for US imports, Trump said. For example, China currently has a tariff of 67% on US imports, so US reciprocal tariffs on Chinese goods will be 34%. Trump also announced a standard 25% tariff on all automobile imports.
Trump told the media that tariffs would return the country to economic prosperity seen in previous centuries:
“From 1789 to 1913, we were a tariff-backed nation. The United States was proportionately the wealthiest it has ever been. So wealthy, in fact, that in the 1880s, they established a commission to decide what they were going to do with the vast sums of money they were collecting.”
“Then, in 1913, for reasons unknown to mankind, they established the income tax so that citizens, rather than foreign countries, would start paying,” Trump said.
Full breakdown of reciprocal tariffs by country. Source: Cointelegraph
Trump presented the tariffs through the lens of economic protectionism and hinted at returning to the economic policies of the 19th century by using them to replace the income tax.
Related: Bitcoin rally to $88.5K obliterates bears as spot volumes soar — Will a tariff war stop the party?
Trump proposes eliminating federal income tax and replacing it with tariff revenue
Trump proposed the idea of abolishing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and funding the federal government exclusively through trade tariffs while still on the campaign trail in October 2024.
According to accounting automation company Dancing Numbers, Trump’s plan could save each American taxpayer $134,809-$325,561 in taxes throughout their lives.
US President Donald Trump addresses the media about reciprocal trade tariffs at the April 2 press event. Source: Fox 4 Dallas
The higher range of the tax savings estimate will only occur if other wage-based taxes are eliminated at the state and municipal levels.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who assumed office in February, also voiced support for replacing the IRS with the “External Revenue Service.”
Lutnick said that the US government cannot balance a budget yet consistently demands more from its citizens every year. Tariffs will also protect American workers and strengthen the US economy, he said.
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