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Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreKeir Starmer didn’t barn storm the White House – he barn-owled his way into the Oval Office wisely giving the big bird confidence enough to spread his wings in welcome.Sir Keir’s title has never mattered so much. He perched on a White House chair upholstered in gold and produced a letter embossed with the Royal crest from his breast pocket. It contained a letter of invitation for a second state visit to the United Kingdom, personally signed by King Charles II.The royal moniker was painted with a thick black broad nib the 47th president would recognize.Starmer brings gift and letter from King Charles to TrumpRoyal messenger Sir Keir cooed and bobbed as he explained, over and over, what an unprecedented honour was being done for Trump – who will be the first sitting president to have had two state visits in one lifetime.“This is really special. This has never happened before,” Sir Keir insisted.“This is a very special letter. I think the last state visit was a tremendous success His Majesty the King wants to make this even better,” the British PM channeled Trump’s passion for hyperbole – and it worked.Trump’s peevishness, his pouting, and brittle responses to anything that doesn’t like, washed away as he settled into something approaching warmth and charm. His change of mood, and tone, may have historic strategic importance.First fawning, then firm, Starmer stuck to the British and European policy on peace talks on Ukraine that there would need to be a US security guarantee behind it (which so far Trump had ruled out).Starmer insisted that any future peace deal could not “reward the aggressor”.But rather than clash with Trump over Russia he quickly mentioned a mutual enemy (which happens to be supporting the Kremlin in its war against Ukraine) by adding: “Or that gives encouragement to regimes like Iran.”They both agreed that history should be on the side of the peacemaker.Starmer leaned in hard on making Trump feel comfortable. And that his fellow leaders in Europe agreed with him, with Trump, that they should pay their way to defend their own continent.After their talks in the Oval Office Trump told Starmer “you’re a very tough negotiator – however, I am not sure I like that, but that’s OK.” And added that: “The Prime Minister and I got off to an outstanding start.”Awkward moment Trump asks Starmer if Britain could take on Russia on their ownStarmer had endorsed the principles of a mineral deal, to be signed on Friday at the White House between Trump and Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky. It will be an outline of a more complex arrangement to be negotiated later but sets out the basis for an investment fund and mineral rights for the US to be jointly managed by the US and Ukraine.Crucially it means that the US, and the Trump administration, have skin in the game on the Ukrainian side. Until now Trump had behaved as if Vladimir Putin was the wronged party in the invasion of Ukraine and the abuses that have followed by Russia.He has taken Russia’s side in setting out the conditions that Ukraine would have to accept in a peace deal it has not even been invited to help negotiate.A week or so ago he sneered at president Zelensky calling him a “dictator” and a “modestly successful comedian”.After his session with Sir Keir in the Oval Office he emerged, and when asked if he still considered the Ukrainian leader, who was democratically elected, to be a “dictator” replied: “Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that. Next question”.Trump denies ever calling Zelensky a dictatorThat was as close to an apology as Trump has ever got. On Friday Zelensky is due in the White House to sign a mineral deal with the US.Trump said the agreement would mean that Americans would be “dig, dig, digging” in Ukraine which would deter future violations of a peace deal by Russia.”We are a backstop because we’ll be over there, we’ll be working in the country,” Trump said. “It’s like a huge economic development project so it will be good for both countries.”This doesn’t go far enough for Europeans or the UK. But it brings Trump back closer to them. And closer to Ukraine.Macho talk helps too. “I see the threats we face and the UK is all in,” said Starmer who had announced an increase in defence spending of 2.5 per cent of GDP for the UK where the entire armed forces are a fraction of the size of the US Marine Corps.Trump was galvanized by his own talk of British military prowess and acknowledged the bravery of Ukrainians in their fight against Russia and even made a nod to the role of Zelensky.The Ukrainian leader’s visit will not involve the standing ovations and speeches he has given on Capitol Hill – but he will know that the Starmer warm-up act had worked and that he will have a more receptive audience in Trump. Angry at the danger Trump’s friendship with Putin poses to his country, and his health, Zelensky has Starmer’s owl-like approach to thank for getting Trump to tuck away his talons – for now. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreWhen Keir Starmer met Donald Trump in the White House for Thursday’s high-stakes meeting over the future of US-UK relations, the messaging each projected wasn’t confined to words alone.From the power of the handshakes, to their tender gestures during the televised Oval Office chat, and the way each stood apart during the later White House press conference, the pair could not be more “mismatched”, according to body language expert Caroline Goyder.“Trump is the silverback, totally relaxed, totally grounded, you know, on his home turf. And the difference, it couldn’t be starker,” Ms Goyder told ITV on Thursday night after viewing footage of the US and UK leaders as they prepared to discuss advances in security and trade.“Whatever you think about Donald Trump, he is Mr Charisma with Mr Logic… Mr Legal. And so it’s amazing, It’s like Mars and Venus.”Keir Starmer and Donald Trump were like “Mr Charisma” and “Mr Logic” during the meeting, Ms Goyder said More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreHigh-speed rail between London and Birmingham may never be delivered because the government and HS2 lack “the skills or capacities” to complete the project, a powerful committee of MPs has warned. The Commons public accounts committee (PAC) said the rail project should be studied as an example of “how not to run a major project”, with billions of pounds of taxpayer funds having already been wasted. And, despite the northern leg of HS2 having been axed to cut costs, a move first revealed by The Independent, the PAC warned it has doubts about the government’s ability “to deliver even a curtailed scheme”. In a damning report, the committee added that even if the slimmed down HS2 project is delivered, it will “bring very poor value for money”. One example the committee cited in the waste associated with HS2 was the building of a bat protection tunnel in Buckinghamshire costing more than £100m. The PAC criticised the building of a £100m tunnel to protect bats More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreIt was the meeting that could well define Keir Starmer’s premiership and the most important set of discussions between a British PM and a US President in decades. Sir Keir and Donald Trump met in the White House for the first time since last month’s inauguration with an agenda that included issues from securing lasting peace in Ukraine to tariffs and a potential US-UK trade deal. Here we run down the PM’s wins and losses from the historic encounter. In an unexpected win Sir Keir will surely be celebrating, Trump’s threats of tariffs on imported goods to the US now appear to be aimed more at EU than the UK. In a press conference after their Oval Office meeting, the president suggested that a US-UK trade deal could be signed “rather quickly” and might mean that tariffs on UK goods into the US would be unnecessary. “I think there’s a very good chance that in the case of these two great friendly countries, I think we could very well end up with a real trade deal where the tariffs,” the president said.The two leaders met at the White House More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreSir Keir Starmer delivered a diplomatic success on Thursday as he appeared to charm Donald Trump into cooperation on major issues during his visit to the White House.Even before formal talks had begun, the prime minister looked to have secured a number of concessions on areas including trade and Ukraine.In front of reporters and cameras in the Oval Office, their meeting began with a flourish from Sir Keir as he produced a letter from King Charles inviting the US president to make a second state visit to Britain.A pre-visit will initially take place at Balmoral, but Mr Trump could also address a joint sitting of parliament at Westminster. As the president accepted the invitation, Sir Keir emphasised that he is the first president to have secured two state visit invitations.President Trump, who dominated the news conference, was also flattered when the prime minister thanked him “for changing the conversation on Ukraine”.But there were some awkward moments, including when Mr Trump mocked the prime minister, asking: “Can you take on Russia by yourselves?” – at which Sir Keir only laughed.In good news for Sir Keir, Mr Trump endorsed his controversial Chagos Islands deal, which hands the territory to Mauritius. This is a blow to Nigel Farage, who has been leading a lobbying effort to overturn the agreement.The president also appeared to warm to the idea of supporting a security backstop for Ukraine, while emphasising his intention to impose trade tariffs on the EU – but not the UK.“I think there’s a very good chance that in the case of these two great friendly countries, I think we could very well end up with a real trade deal where the tariffs wouldn’t be necessary,” Mr Trump said.By the time the two leaders and their respective teams – including British foreign secretary David Lammy and Labour chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, and on the US side, vice-president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio – went to have lunch and engage in formal talks, the prime minister was well on his way to securing some of the key goals from his visit.Mr Trump described the leaders’ relationship as “tremendous”, adding: “We get along very famously.”And he said Britain’s troops “would not need the support of America” if attacked by Russia in Ukraine, “because they are very good”, but conceded that America “would have Britain’s back”.While he did not completely rule out the imposition of tariffs on Britain, he said the EU “took advantage of the US”, referring to the bloc having a large trade deficit.On the long-running saga of the Chagos Islands deal, Mr Trump said: “I have a feeling it is going to work out very well. I think we will be inclined to go along with your country.”He even awkwardly complimented the prime minister’s wife, Lady Victoria.Asked about common ground between the two leaders, Mr Trump said: “He loves his country and so do I.” He added: “I’m very impressed with him, and very impressed with his wife: she’s a beautiful, great woman.”Mr Trump also appears to have been pleased about Sir Keir’s boost to Britain’s defence spending – a policy decision the prime minister is set to reinforce this weekend when key EU leaders including Volodymyr Zelensky join him for a weekend conference in London.However, there were some tense moments. One hiccup came when Mr Vance repeated his criticism – which he made at the Munich Security Conference earlier this month – that European governments, including Britain’s, had retreated from their values and ignored the concerns of voters on migration and free speech.Sir Keir retorted: “We’ve had free speech for a very, very long time in the United Kingdom. Britain has a long history of free speech, and will have a long history of free speech going forward.”Mr Trump also said that he trusts Vladimir Putin, adding that he is confident that Russia’s president will “keep his word” in the negotiations over Ukraine.And he laughed at a question about why he had called President Zelensky a dictator. “Did I say that?” he said, apparently joking. “I don’t believe I said that. Next question.” There was also uncertainty about the nature of any security backstop for Ukraine against Russia. Mr Trump appeared to suggest that the presence of US employees extracting minerals as part of the vaunted commercial deal would provide Kyiv with a guarantee against Putin.“I don’t think anybody is going to play around if we’re there with a lot of workers,” Mr Trump said. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreWatch as Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump hold a joint press conference after their crunch talks on Ukraine and defence on Thursday, 27 February.Earlier that day in the Oval Office, the US president said he and the UK prime minister “get along famously” and accepted an invitation that Sir Keir delivered from King Charles III for a second state visit to the UK.Sir Keir is visiting Washington to push the reluctant Mr Trump to provide a US “backstop” to prevent Vladimir Putin from launching a fresh assault on Ukraine after any peace deal.They are also discussing Sir Keir’s Chagos deal after concern from Downing Street that the Republican administration would veto the deal, which hands over the archipelago to Mauritius.But speaking alongside Sir Keir, the president said Britain has agreed a “strong lease” on the military base, adding: “I think we will be inclined to go along with your country. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreKeir Starmer is facing calls to raise reports Donald Trump’s administration pressed the Romanian government to lift travel restrictions that allowed Andrew Tate to leave the country where he is facing trafficking charges.Alicia Kearns, the former chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said the prime minister had to make clear to Mr Trump that the Tate brothers “have charges to face in Romania and UK”, when he meets the US President in the White House. The controversial social media influencer, 38, and his brother Tristan, 36, are facing a string of criminal charges in Romania including rape, human trafficking and exploiting women. Both deny all the charges.Andrew Tate flew out of Romania on Thursday morning (Andreea Alexandru/AP) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreA rearmament drive paid for by slashing the UK’s foreign aid budget shows the “completely wrong priorities” of the Labour government, Diane Abbott has said as she slammed Sir Keir’s policy. The veteran Labour MP said it demonstrated there was a “chasm” between the decision and the values of her party, arguing the move would not add to the UK’s security and was “morally indefensible”. She also accused “fading world powers” of believing that a failure to defeat Russia in Ukraine would undermine their standing in the world, leading to “extraordinary and panicked measures”. Diane Abbott has hit out at her party leader’s policy More