Sir Keir Starmer will be hoping that the political capital he has invested in his relationship with Donald Trump will pay dividends eventually, even if right now the UK-US alliance looks very shaky indeed.

The Prime Minister is always reluctant to call out Trump unless it is necessary. On other international crises – such as Nicolás Maduro being spirited out of Venezuela or when Trump attacked Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky – Starmer kept shtum. But on Monday he was clear, both firmly resisting Trump’s demands to annex Greenland, while desperately trying not to escalate the issue further.

“Greenland matters,” Starmer said at a No 10 press conference. “Any decision about the future status of Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark alone. That right is fundamental and we support it.”
Starmer’s argument – that politicians who resort to angry social media posts in response to US foreign policy goals may feel good about themselves, but that approach “does nothing for working people” – shows his attitude to the President. The Prime Minister believes the best way is to stay calm and work behind the scenes to smooth it over. There was no performative hyperbole.

But, like a swan, there is frantic diplomatic activity going on beneath the surface. The UK is in daily contact........

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