The Notebook: No state visit for President Trump? What a mistake
If we know anything about President Trump, it’s that he likes a bit of show business. Not inviting him for a 2025 state visit is a big mistake, writes Michael Martins in today’s Notebook
No state visit for President Trump in 2025?
Last week, foreign secretary David Lammy said the government would not recommend the King host a state visit for President Trump in 2025. It will be, according to Lammy, a “bit of a tall order” because state visits take too much time and effort to organise, even as the King announced his intention to return to “normal” duties. I was stunned.
At a time of war in Europe, conflict in the Middle East, rising trade tensions and confrontation in the South China Sea, the global diplomatic, intelligence and military communities are solely focused on one person: President Donald Trump.
It is no secret that Trump loves the pageantry of a state visit, and I have little to no doubt that one of his first questions about the UK will be whether the King intends to invite him and the First Lady for a state visit, an occasion he thoroughly enjoyed in 2019.
It would be quite remarkable for the government to decide that a different country in the world matters more than the United States at this crucial time. The alternative, of no state visit in 2025, would not just break the King’s three-year state visit streak, but also the monarchy’s streak that lasts nearly uninterrupted (barring the Covid lockdowns) to the early 1970s. The late Queen held state visits well into her 80s.
Lammy’s personal history with President Trump is of course pertinent; Westminster Twitter lit up with Lammy’s comments calling the President “a racist KKK and Nazi sympathiser” in the wake of his election victory. In the event of a state visit, Lammy, if he somehow manages to hold on as foreign secretary, would meet Air Force One at the airport alongside a member of the Royal Family.
The government should decide the national interest matters more than the foreign secretary’s potential embarrassment and recommend that the King host President Trump in 2025. Trump’s leadership on the world stage matters more than anyone in the world over the next four years, and our government should act accordingly.
Another pleasant Budget surprise…
My accountant surprised me last week with news that I must halve my minimum tax-free salary next year following the Budget to the tidy monthly sum of five hundred pounds. I was even more surprised that if I did so, I would miss the minimum salary contribution to maintain access to my state pension. As an entrepreneur, I was left scratching my head as to which option would lead to the most economic growth: less money to invest and grow today, or less money to invest and grow tomorrow.
Hard time to be a Labour Spad
What has struck me most amongst my Spad friends since Sue Gray’s resignation last month is that many seem to be living in fear, concerned that all their loyalty and hard work might evaporate if they take an initiative that doesn’t work out or they are viewed as disloyal. That fear is leading to inertia and a lack of clever, new policy initiatives at a time when the electorate seems so clearly in favour of change and the business community thirsty for engagement. Starmer should back, not scare, his people.
Fun in Zone 1? Unlikely
When I moved to London 15 years ago, I remember frequently going out in Zone 1 until at least two in the morning and spending all my money. Last Friday I went to a bar in Shoreditch where last orders were at 8.30pm. I was embarrassed for my city, but this also made me think about the colossal amount of money this drive to tax and regulate anything fun to the point of extinction will end up costing our economy and global standing.
Time for a shvitz
The Bermondsey Community Sauna is one of London’s hidden gems that everyone should try at least once. One of four spread throughout London, screens are not allowed, so for two hours, you must forgo Slack, Teams, Meet, Whatsapp and any other work app that gets your blood pressure up as you switch between sweating out the toxins of the daily life in the sauna and seeking sensory oblivion in the ice bath plunge. Although it can be a bit of sensory overload as you repeat the cycle of roasting sauna to outdoor winter temperatures to ice bath plunge, by the end I was restored and ready to resubmerge myself in the joys of entrepreneurialism. My only advice (aside from go!), is to bring your own felt hat – those are somehow communal.
Michael Martins is the founder of Overton Advisory and a former political and economic specialist at US Embassy London