Keir Starmer clocked up another achievement on foreign affairs this week after he and fellow European leaders persuaded Donald Trump to offer US security guarantees to Ukraine.
Trump’s change of tack was a vindication of Starmer’s “softly, softly” approach towards the US president. At White House talks, the prime minister did not press Trump on the need for a ceasefire in Ukraine, as France’s and Germany’s leaders did, after the US president cooled on the idea. Other leaders, including Volodymyr Zelensky, have come to realise that with Trump, flattery will get you everywhere.
