Tom Richmond: Why May is right to stand hand in hand with Trump

If she’d not received the invitation, the self-same critics now questioning her judgement would have accused the PM of lacking global influence when the country needs every friend possible after voting to leave the European Union.

Qari Asim: Trump’s politics of hate stir dark echoes of Holocaust

Even though Mrs May has been subsequently embarrassed by President Trump’s boneheaded travel restrictions against refugees and Muslims from seven countries, she was right to go.

Like it or not, she’s better positioned to try and influence the White House than all those pressing for President Trump’s state visit to Britain to be cancelled. He’s hardly going to take any notice of the likes of Jeremy Corbyn and Tim Farron as the Labour and Lib Dem leaders piously call for the Queen’s invite to be rescinded. If they, and Prince Charles, boycott this state occasion, the greater the focus on business opportunities.

It could be worse. At least Ukip’s ‘bull in a china shop’ diplomat Nigel Farage is not holding court at the White House where Mrs May’s respectful response to last November’s USA election has seen this country go from the back to the front of the queue for future trade deals.

This is not to defend the billionaire Trump’s bigoted and misogynistic views. Quite the opposite. Realpolitik means Britain simply can’t afford to cut its ties with its closest ally, until the USA elects a president whose mainstream views 
accord with this country’s liberal elite. It does not preclude the UK from being a critical friend of the USA and celebrating this country’s compassion to all faiths.

Mrs May already proved her diplomatic mettle when she declared that President Trump was “100 per cent behind Nato” weeks after the tycoon said this post-World War Two security alliance was “obsolete”. The significance of this should not be under-estimated.

Equally, 24 hours after she was photographed walking hand in hand with the world’s most undiplomatic and unpredictable politician, it was unbecoming of the PM to hesitate when asked three times to condemn a discriminatory travel ban which had the potential to impact upon the likes of Olympic champion Sir Mo Farah and Tory MP Nadhim Zahawi. She needs to think on her feet more nimbly rather than appear to demur to President Trump’s outrageousness.

That said, this crash course in international diplomacy, and the importance of building bridges rather than walls, illustrates the invidiousness of the Tory leader’s position as she prepares for two years of Brexit talks with the EU.

Both the May premiership and Trump presidency are by-products of voters rebelling against their respective establishment elites. This was striking during their joint White House Press conference when Mrs May said: “One of the things that we have in common is that we want to put the interests of ordinary working people right up there, centre stage. Those people who – you know, they’re working all the hours. They’re doing their best for their families and sometimes they just feel the odds are stacked against them.”

Powerful words, these families aren’t interested in diplomatic niceties. They still feel they are paying the price for the 2007-08 credit crunch and are fed up with politicians ignoring their hardship.

Though they were unsure of the financial consequences, many in Yorkshire told me they voted for Brexit because they didn’t think they would be any worse off and such a move might, in fact, galvanise the wider economy.

Unlike the liberal chattering classes, they accept governments, past and present, have to deal with odious leaders. It’s why China’s president Xi Jiping was granted a state visit in 2015. It’s why Britain has arms deals with Saudi Arabia and why a rapprochement was reached with Germany and Japan after the war – economic necessities trumped moral considerations. Purity is only enjoyed by opposition parties – as Robin Cook discovered when he said in 1997 that New Labour would pursue an ethical foreign policy.

And domestic politican shenanigans last Friday showed why Mrs May is now first among equals. As a dignified PM was laying a wreath on behalf of her country at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington cemetery, the Shadow Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens was quitting Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet in protest at the Labour leader’s decision to support the tabling of the aforementioned Article 50.

The wider significance? While Mrs May prepares to take back control from Brussels and brokering global trade deals, Labour is simply out of control because its Europhiles remain unduly focused on process, and defying the will of the people, rather than the outcome.

The methodical Mrs May gets this. In his own bombastic way, President Trump does too after ripping up Washington’s political protocols in order to begin his ‘America first’ jobs crusade.

Both know they will be judged by results. And while this won’t be the first time that Theresa May is embarrassed by President Trump, she can be forgiven for putting pragmatism before principle – the UK and USA have $1 trillion of trade invested in each other’s countries. If this is put at risk, the PM will not only have failed to put Britain first but will have a weaker negotiating hand with the EU.

[email protected]