Starmer’s challenge is to see if usual rules of special relationship still apply under Trump after years of love bombing
Visits by prime ministers to the American president matter much more to us “Brits” than they do to them.
Donald Trump spelt this out in the off-hand way he announced that he had granted Sir Keir Starmer the coveted appointment in his busy schedule.
“We have a lot of good things going on,” the president boasted. “But he asked to come and see me and I just accepted his asking.”
After his phone call with the prime minister, Trump declared “we’re going to have a friendly meeting, very good”. That was before Sir Keir publicly disagreed with Trump’s ruling that Volodymyr Zelenskyy is “a dictator”.
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Trump on Starmer visit
Always assuming that his invitation is not cancelled in a fit of presidential pique, Starmer will find himself proceeding with the utmost caution when he gets to the Oval Office.
Downing Street sources say they are anxious “not to poke the bear” in the full knowledge that previous leaders have endured many awkward moments in their attempts to further a special relationship at away matches.
Starmer will have his work cut out. Since his re-election, Trump has signalled that he has less time than ever for traditional alliances.
Newly inaugurated presidents traditionally send friendly greetings to their territorial neighbours. Trump slapped tariffs on Canada and Mexico and talked about US territorial expansion to both the north and the south.
Historically the UK prime minister has often been the first foreign leader welcomed by a new US president. Trump hosted Theresa May less than a week after he took office for the first time and surprised her when he held her hand to go down some steps.
This year Starmer has already been preceded by the leaders of Israel, Japan, Jordan and Indonesia and will be crossing the Atlantic to pay his respects in the same few days as France’s President Macron.
Donald Trump holds Theresa May’s hand as they walk along the colonnades of the White House in Washington in January 2017. Pic: AP
Thatcher and Reagan’s political romance
Even at the best of times, British officials are prone to exaggerate the closeness of the two countries’ mutual interests.
Harold Macmillan thought he could teach the young John Kennedy a thing or two, as the Greek to JFK’s Roman, but ended up being dictated to by Kennedy on the nature of the UK’s “independent” nuclear deterrent.
One of the wily Harold Wilson’s most significant achievements was refusing to send British troops to fight alongside the Americans in the Vietnam War.
The most celebrated PM/POTUS political romance was between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. Indeed when the Falklands conflict broke out in the spring of 1982, I was in the White House briefing room to hear then US secretary of state Al Haig joke with innuendo about the closeness of their relationship.
Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher dancing at the White House in 1988. Pic: Reuters
It blossomed after Thatcher won Reagan over to give the UK expedition staunch support, in defiance of the advice from some of his officials.
Even so, Thatcher was unnerved by Reagan’s apparent willingness to consider mutual nuclear disarmament in discussion with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986.
She flew hastily to Washington DC following the Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Reykjavik – “to give Reagan a bollocking” – at least according to the Daily Express reporter in her travelling party.
In 1990 she reportedly told George HW Bush “now George, this is not time to go wobbly” during the flurry of meetings and phone calls which followed Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.
Clinton owing Blair and Bush’s love bombing
John Major got off to a bad start with Bill Clinton after Conservative sources tried to help the Republican campaign dig up dirt on Clinton’s time as a student at Oxford. Soon after the US election in 1992, Major flew to the US in the hope of being invited to a face-to-face meeting with the then president-elect. After several days all he got was a phone call from Little Rock, Arkansas.
In spite of their ideological closeness, Tony Blair later said he found it more difficult to deal with the Third Way Democrat Bill Clinton than he did with the “straightforward” Republican George W Bush.
Clinton nonetheless was a key player in bringing about the Belfast agreement. Blair’s greatest success was persuading the president to commit US forces to peacekeeping in the Balkans but he also did Clinton significant personal service.
Blair went on a scheduled visit to the White House at the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, just days after the president had made his statement “I did not have sex with that woman”.
At their joint news conference afterwards, Blair allowed all the questions to be deflected to him and expressed his admiration for the president. As they walked away from the East Wing, Clinton put his arm around the prime minister and appeared to say “I owe you one”.
Bill Clinton and Tony Blair during a joint news conference in February 1998 when the president was repeatedly questioned about the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Pic: Reuters
Clinton’s advice to Blair on his successor George W Bush was “hug him close”. But both sides were apprehensive when the Labour prime minister flew to Camp David for his first meeting with the second President Bush.
Bush wanted them to dress casual, and according to the British ambassador, Blair put on some “ball-crushingly tight jeans”. From Bush’s first words about sharing the same kind of toothpaste, Blair was subjected to love bombing.
The two leaders’ relationship remained close, including sending troops side-by-side into Afghanistan and Iraq.
Brown’s bag of CDs, Cameron’s humility and common interests
Through no fault of his own Gordon Brown found himself in the midst of a British media furore after Barack Obama’s team returned a bust of Churchill which had been lent personally to George W Bush by the British Embassy.
The new Obama administration’s ignorance of the usual niceties was further demonstrated when a history-steeped gift to the president from Brown was reciprocated with a bag of CDs.
David Cameron struck a humble note visiting Obama when he described the UK as America’s “junior partner”.
Their alliance backfired when Obama tried to help during the Brexit referendum – warning that the UK would find itself “at the back of the queue” for striking a trade deal with the US after Brexit.
David Cameron and Barack Obama at a NATO summit in 2016. Pic: Reuters
The rapid turnover of prime ministers during Joe Biden’s presidency did not allow any of them to build up a close working relationship. In any case, Biden chose to identify with his Irish, and not his English, heritage.
Until this second Trump presidency, the US and the UK were at least pulling in the same direction, with differing interests but the common assumption that they would back each other up where possible.
Starmer’s challenge is to see if those rules still apply.
Left-right differences can be overcome
Until now, differences of left and right have not mattered much. It was a mere spat when the Reagan administration and the Labour leader Neil Kinnock ended up briefing against each other after the British leader of the Opposition was granted a brief Oval Office meeting before the 1987 general election.
Reagan told Kinnock his unilateral nuclear disarmament policy was crazy and Labour said doddery Reagan had not recognised the shadow foreign secretary Denis Healey.
Kinnock and Labour later abandoned their anti-nuclear policy.
Starmer has got off to a better start than that. He and the foreign secretary David Lammy say they were hosted “graciously” by the then president-elect at Trump Tower in New York City last year.
They will be hoping they can keep it that way this week in the White House.
A 14-year-old girl who attempted to murder two teachers and a pupil at a school in Wales has been sentenced to 15 years in detention.
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was previously found guilty of attempting to murder teachers Fiona Elias and Liz Hopkin and a pupil at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Ammanford.
Emergency services were called to the school on 24 April last year, in what the trial heard was a “serious episode of violence” during the mid-morning break after the girl took her father’s fishing “multi-tool” to school.
She had admitted to three counts of wounding with intent and possession of a bladed article on a school premises, but a jury found her guilty of attempted murder in February after a week-long trial.
Following her arrest, the teenager told officers she was “pretty sure” the incident would be on the news, and added “that’s one way to be a celebrity”.
Both Mrs Elias and Mrs Hopkin “received significant and serious injuries”, Swansea Crown Court heard.
Mrs Hopkin was airlifted to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff after she sustained “four stab wounds”, while Mrs Elias and the pupil also attended hospital for treatment.
Ammanford in Carmarthenshire
‘Changed my life forever’
Reading her victim personal statement from the witness box on Monday, Fiona Elias said the incident had shown her that life was “fragile” and had been “a steep learning curve”.
“Walking out on duty that day would change my life forever,” she said – a moment which “replays itself over and over no matter how much time passes”.
“It’s not easy, and I know I’ll continue to face challenges, but every day I’m taking step towards healing,” Mrs Elias said.
Addressing the defendant, Mrs Elias said “your motive was clear, you intended to murder me” but that she was stopped “thanks to Liz’s selfless actions”.
She said she was not “ruling out the possibility of a meeting with [the pupil] in the future,” but that she first needed to know she would “engage with the interventions that will be put in place”.
Outlining her plans to campaign for safer working conditions at schools, Mrs Elias said: “I never expected to give my blood, but I will always give my heart to Ysgol Dyffryn Aman and to the world of education.”
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The teenager, who can’t be named, is due to be sentenced in April.
‘Right place at the right time’
Liz Hopkin said it had been “the worst experience of [her] life” but that she was “glad” she was “in the right place at the right time” to protect Mrs Elias.
“I’m still here, I’m still alive, though at the time I was sure that I was going to die,” she told the court.
“Physically, my wounds have healed but the scars remain.”
Mrs Hopkin added that the thought of returning to a career in teaching now filled her with “anxiety and dread”.
“You were prepared to kill someone you did not know,” she said, addressing the defendant, who sat in the court for proceedings, until she moved to the dock for sentence.
“The decision to end my life was never yours to make.”
But Mrs Hopkin said she worried about the defendant’s future, adding: “I don’t want you to be punished forever but I do want you to take every opportunity to make your life better.”
Concluding her victim personal statement, Mrs Hopkin said: “It has changed me in ways I never wanted and that is something I will have to live with for the rest of my life.”
Pic: PA
‘Very complex young girl’
Prosecuting, William Hughes KC said aggravating factors in the case included use of a knife, the fact two of the victims were “carrying out a public service” and that the offending took place in public.
In mitigation, Caroline Rees KC said the defendant was “a very complex young girl”.
She said she had shown remorse, had a “difficult background” and also the fact there were two trials.
Handing down his sentence, Judge Paul Thomas said the defendant would serve half of the 15-year sentence before she can be considered for release.
Addressing the defendant, he said: “What you did in school almost a year ago the day has caused a large number of people a great deal of harm and upset. It has hugely affected many lives, including, of course, your own.”
“The simple fact is you tried to kill three people, two teachers and another pupil,” he added.
“I think that it is very important here that what you did you did in full of so many other pupils…In my view you wanted as many of your fellow pupils as possible to see what you intended to do.”
The Judge added that “for one reason or other, [the defendant wasn’t] really listening” to the victim impact statements of Mrs Elias and Mrs Hopkin.
He said he did not think the teenager was “genuinely sorry” for what she did, adding: “You showed no emption or even interest in how they felt that day or ever since.”
UK
Nazi flags, patient ‘sexually assaulted’, ‘dog poo left at whistleblower’s home’: Sky News investigates UK’s ‘worst ambulance service’
A grandmother who claims she was sexually assaulted by a private paramedic on the way to hospital has told Sky News she has been failed by the ambulance service.
Warning: This article contains references to sexual abuse and suicide
It comes as a staff survey of the same service – the South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) – heard damning claims of a culture of discrimination and bullying; with allegations of Nazi flags on team video calls and a “boy’s club” culture where whistleblowers are punished.
It’s been more than a year since a Sky News investigation first heard of a culture of rampant sexual harassment and abuse in ambulance services.
These issues have existed for decades right across the country.
But now the GMB union, which represents ambulance workers, is calling on the chief executive of SECAmb, Simon Weldon, to resign.
It’s after a survey of workers heard high instances of inappropriate behaviour and bullying; with a huge fear of speaking out.
It’s led the GMB to call for an independent investigation, with one representative branding the ambulance trust “the worst in the country”.
The trust told us it is committed to working with unions for positive change.
‘I just lay there, terrified’
Juliette was treated by paramedics after she was hit by a car while cycling
Juliette, 65, has spent four years trying to get her local ambulance trust to listen. In 2021, she accused a private paramedic working with SECAmb of sexually assaulting her.
Hit by a car while cycling through Surrey, she remembers lying on the stretcher in agony, afraid to move in case she was paralysed. Two paramedics carried out assessments for around 90 minutes before driving her to hospital.
But as soon as she was alone in the back with just one of them, she claims the male paramedic suddenly told her he wanted to “check her hips”.
“There was no asking, no consent,” she says. And instead of touching her hips, she claims he sexually assaulted her.
“With his left hand, he opened my shorts up – and put his right hand into my cycling shorts.
“Between my legs.”
Juliette says she was left feeling ‘insulted, betrayed and humiliated’
She doesn’t want to go into the details, but she says she temporarily froze, powerless and terrified of what he might do. All the while he stared down into her eyes and said nothing.
“I felt so uncomfortable. Shamed, frightened, shocked. I didn’t want it to continue.”
A letter of formal complaint
She said her brain eventually “snapped into place” and she moved her legs. She claims he then removed his hand, and sat behind her head in silence for the rest of the journey.
“I just lay there – terrified,” she whispers.
She reported it to the police the following day, but with no CCTV in the ambulance, it was her word against his. With no hope of a successful prosecution, the Met Police dropped the case.
South East Coast Ambulance’s response to a request for CCTV images
Then she turned her attention to the ambulance service, hopeful it would act.
We’ve seen correspondence between Juliette’s lawyers and SECAmb, which promised to respond to the formal complaint within 25 days. That was repeatedly delayed for several months.
“It was about seven months after the accident. They still hadn’t acknowledged anything to do with the sexual assault,” she recalls.
“They hadn’t answered any questions.”
Eventually, they effectively said the assault hadn’t happened; claiming that Juliette herself had started to remove her cycling shorts, and that “consent was given” for an examination after she complained of a pain in her leg.
She unequivocally denies every detail of this account.
She says it left her feeling “insulted, betrayed and humiliated”.
Why – she asks – would somebody think she had “wasted all this time”.
“It’s too late for me,” she adds, but she is making a stand to help others avoid the same trauma.
Amelia (not her real name) talking to Sky News’ Rachael Venables
Culture of discrimination, harassment and bullying
The GMB represents a large number of the 4,000 SECAmb staff, and recently carried out a survey of their members about their experiences of working life.
From the nearly 900 responses, the union claims they identified a culture of discrimination towards women staff members with sexual harassment, bullying, and a general “boys’ club” culture.
Of those surveyed, 25.6% had experienced bullying and 26% had witnessed inappropriate conduct. Racism was witnessed by 16% and sexual harassment by 17.2%.
What’s more, 80% didn’t feel confident the trust would support them if they flagged concerning behaviour.
‘He’s always been into Nazi stuff’
Ambulance worker Amelia (not her real name) told Sky News she finally blew the whistle on inappropriate behaviour a few years ago after she joined a video call with colleagues to discuss staffing levels.
One of the managers joined them from home. To Amelia’s shock, he appeared on their office screen with a large red, white and black Nazi swastika flag prominently behind him.
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NHS manager joined call with Nazi flag
On his desk was a framed photo of Adolf Hitler, next to what she says looked like a young woman at graduation. On the bookshelves sat a red swastika armband and what she was later told was a World War Two grenade.
She was horrified.
“I kept looking around the room thinking, ‘why is no one saying anything?’… When I spoke to people afterwards they said: ‘Oh yeah… he’s always been into Nazi stuff.”
At first, she blew the whistle anonymously, but was told she’d have to name herself and put in a formal grievance for it to be investigated.
A report seen by Sky News found the manager’s “inappropriate behaviour” should have been challenged, but he still works for SECAmb.
Amelia claims she was isolated by her colleagues, frozen out of meetings and uninvited to team events, saying “it killed my career”.
An independent report found there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that she had been deliberately excluded.
At one point the police were involved, then days later, she says, “I had bags of dog faeces on my doorstep. That went on for a few days, I felt like a prisoner in my own home”.
“Whenever I heard sirens, I got palpitations. I was terrified of who would be in that ambulance.”
‘They become the problem’
When people like Amelia speak out “they become the problem”, says Lib Whitfield, a senior GMB organiser.
Lib started working with the trust eight years ago, after an independent report was published, highlighting behaviours similar to those referenced in this article.
Senior GMB organiser Lib Whitfield
The culture is now the “worst it’s ever been”, says Lib, and she believes it’s the “worst in the country”.
“I am receiving calls every single day from members who are suicidal,” she adds.
Lib says the union has now written to the health secretary, Wes Streeting, with three demands.
“Firstly, we need a full independent investigation into the culture of SECAmb that results in actions and not just words,” she says.
“Secondly, we are calling for the resignation of the current chief executive who has overseen this getting worse.
“And thirdly, we are calling for an interim chief executive to be appointed who is external to SECAmb and who can have external reporting to ensure they are not corrupted.”
Read more
‘I was given a choice of bosses to sleep with’: Life as a female paramedic
Ambulance services must stamp out sexual harassment and bullying, report says
We took these allegations to the ambulance trust, which wanted to point out that the alleged events happened before Mr Weldon took over as chief executive.
It also said it had issues with the way the anonymous survey was conducted.
A spokesperson said in a statement: “We continue to work hard to make SECAmb a safe organisation for all of our people and are committed to drive real change.
“The historic cases highlighted were thoroughly investigated, including through independent external reviews, and we firmly believe these cases do not reflect the views of the majority of our people on how it feels to work at SECAmb currently.
“We continue to engage openly with the whole trust about the further improvements we want to make and about the changes needed for the ambulance sector as whole.
“We remain absolutely committed to working with our unions to achieve this, although this will only happen with constructive collaboration on all sides.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting did not respond to our request for an interview, but in a statement a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This is an extremely concerning report and we are looking closely at it. Sexual harassment or abuse within the NHS is completely unacceptable and must be dealt with appropriately.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
Liverpool have won the Premier League title after a 5-1 victory over Tottenham at Anfield.
Arne Slot’s men did it in impressive style, turning over Spurs in a convincing win.
It was a rocky start for the Reds after Dominic Solanke put the north London side ahead.
However, fortunes quickly changed in the first half as Liverpool scored three times without a response.
Captain Virgil van Dijk (centre) celebrates. Pic: Reuters
Salah on his knees in celebration after the final whistle. Pic: AP
Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott (below) and Jarell Quansah celebrate after full-time. Pic: PA
Slot cheers after the full-time whistle. Pic: AP
In the second half, it took until the 63rd minute for Mohamed Salah to make it 4-1 before a fifth followed.
The Reds have won the title in manager Arne Slot’s first season in charge, and move level with fierce rivals Manchester United on 20 league championships.
But it makes them arguably the most successful English club ever as they have won more European Cup or Champions League titles.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told Sky Sports after the final whistle: “It’s special and it’s something that we don’t take for granted. It’s amazing.
“A lot of emotions before the game, during the whole week, but we got the job done and we (are) truly deserved champions of England. (Liverpool is) the most beautiful club in the world and I think we deserve all of this. Let’s enjoy the next couple of weeks and let it sink in.”
Liverpool’s Kostas Tsimikas poses with a Premier League trophy cut out. Pic: Reuters
Manager Arne Slot and his team after the final whistle. Pic: AP
Slot took over last summer from Jurgen Klopp, who guided them to their previous and maiden Premier League title triumph in 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown saw matches played behind closed doors.
He is the first Dutch manager to win the Premier League and the fifth man to do so in a debut campaign after Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini, and Antonio Conte.
Speaking to Sky Sports he said: “They [the players] did an outstanding job today. The main job was to win. Everyone said we had got it already. But we had to make sure and we got over the line.”
Several players, including Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, and Mohamed Salah, played leading roles in both the 2025 and 2020 campaigns.
Van Dijk and Salah recently signed new contracts extending their careers at the club.
Mohamed Salah takes a selfie with fans after scouring the fourth Liverpool goal. Pic: AP
Fans at Anfield during the game. Pic: AP
Fans in the stands at Anfield before full-time. Pic: Reuters
Liverpool will have to wait until the final game of the season – at home to Crystal Palace on 25 May – to be presented with the Premier League trophy.
It will be the first time the club’s fans will have seen their side lift the top-flight title in person since 1990.
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