Analysis: Why Those Who Want Starmer To Read Trump The Riot Act Will Be Disappointed

Keir Starmer has chosen not to get into a war of words with Donald Trump.As a former acting Labour leader, Harriet Harman remains a highly-respected figure in the party.When she talks – as she does every week on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast – people tend to listen.So when the usually-loyal peer took the unusual step of criticising Keir Starmer’s approach towards dealing with Donald Trump, eyebrows were raised.The prime minister, Harman said, needs to take a leaf out of Tony Blair’s book and be bold enough to tell a US president when he is wrong, as she believes he is over his tariff policy.″[The government] don’t seem to be able to be telling the country what I think the country needs to hear them saying, which is that what Trump is doing is a bad thing,” she said.“I think that there is a danger if the prime minister, who is the leader of the country, is not telling the story about what is actually happening.“I don’t mean gratuitous insults, but I mean actually owning the narrative. And this was a very small example back when we were in government after 1997, when the US put steel tariffs on our country, and Tony Blair as prime minister did say this is unacceptable, this is wrong, it’s unjustified.”Warming to her theme, Harman went on: “It feels as if there’s a kind of restricted vocabulary amongst ministers at the moment where they are speaking in code.“This is not where we want to be. We don’t want to see a trade war with open markets. But they’re not able to say about the elephant in the room, which is that Trump is wrong on this.”But senior government sources have told HuffPost UK that Harman – and other critics of his softly-softly approach to dealing with Trump – are set to be disappointed. The laddie, it seems, is not for turning.One Starmer ally said: “We are in a better position than if we’d followed the advice from many within the Labour Party to instantly retaliate and show him who’s boss.“What they’re saying is we should have gone ballistic about Ukraine after Zelenskyy’s bust-up in the Oval Office, and we should retaliate on tariffs.“But if we’d listened to them we would now be on a higher rate than everyone else, and to what end? We’re doing the right thing.”A cabinet minister said Starmer was following a three-pronged approach which would not change.“Firstly, we’re going to keep talking to the US – that is Keir’s calm response,” he said.“The feeling is that the 10% tariffs are probably going to stay for a while and maybe for the longer term, but we want to keep talking on tech, financial services and cars, which have been hit with a 25% tariff.“Secondly, there will be a lot of dialogue with allies like Canada, Australia and Europe. Keir has spent a lot of time on the phone with the leaders of those countries because we believe in free trade as a country.“And thirdly, we will support our own industries in certain key sectors.”As an example, Starmer announced last week that the car industry would be given greater flexibility to hit the target for phasing out petrol and diesel cars.MPs and peers have also been recalled to parliament to pass emergency legislation which could eventually see the nationalisation of the loss-making British Steel plant in Scunthorpe.Negotiations on an economic deal with the US are still ongoing, but the feeling inside Downing Street is that an agreement is still “weeks, if not months” away.Next week, according to one No.10 source, could be “the calm between the storms”, although there is an acknowledgment that could all be changed by one Trump post on Truth Social.“Everything is dictated by what he decides, which is why it’s important to stay on his good side, quite frankly,” the source said.Starmer hopes to take a few days off before Easter, but the fast-paced nature of global events could end up see those plans being ditched.“Keir’s always at his most energised when his back’s to the wall and big stuff is going on,” said one senior Labour figure.With the news agenda unlikely to slow down any time soon, that is probably just as well.Related...'Trump's Not Taking Your Calls': Starmer Cornered Over Lack Of Contact With President'In The Balance': MPs Recalled To Parliament As Ministers Race To Save British SteelMinister Asked If UK Has Been 'Caught Kissing Trump's Ass' In Awkward Radio Interview