This Week in Westminster: Starmer and Trump talk business and Emma Reynolds takes a wrong turn.
Read all about it in this week's Who's Top Who's Not
Top: Baroness Casey
In a scandal, which has been utilised by many for political ends, Baroness Casey has rightly refocused attention on the victims of group-based child sexual exploitation. In her rapid review—commissioned by the government—she made clear that the survivors were “at the front of [her] mind” throughout. Her report, published on Monday, exposes two decades of institutional failure and has prompted the Prime Minister to finally agree to a full national inquiry, alongside all of Casey’s recommendations.
Casey initially doubted the need for a national inquiry, but changed her stance after discovering that many councils failed to initiate their own investigations, and some organisations were reluctant to cooperate with her team.
The politics of this are a sideshow compared with the justice sought by victims and the lessons that need to be learnt to ensure that this never happens again. Nonetheless, this is Westminster and so expect some to play further unseemly political games on this subject.
Middle: Sir Keir Starmer
The unveiling of the long-anticipated US-UK trade deal has been somewhat overshadowed by escalating tensions in the Middle East, with President Trump leaving much of the world in suspense this week as to whether he will join Israeli air strikes on Iran.
The trade deal itself was finalised at the G7 Summit in Canada, with Starmer hailing the agreement as a ‘real sign of strength’ and Trump reaffirming the US’ relationship with Britain as ‘fantastic’, saying the UK was ‘very well protected… because I like them.’
Wins for Starmer include a formal lowering of tariffs on UK aerospace goods which currently stand at 10% and tariffs on car imports to drop from 27.5% to 10%. However, the President would not release when levies on British steel exports to the US would be set to 0%, announcing the government would ‘make progress’ on the issue.
As part of the excitement, President Trump proceeded to drop the signed executive papers whilst the pair faced the media, Starmer quick to politely pick them up from the floor. Despite Starmer having done well to secure a trade deal, Trump has hung Starmer, and the rest of the world, out to dry on his plans for Iran. Starmer was forced to reiterate that Trump had shared no plans, despite the US President gleefully telling reporters ‘Nobody knows what I’m going to do.’ With friends like these…
Not: Emma Reynolds
LBC’s Nick Ferrari has earned a reputation for not taking any prisoners (including with our own Max Wilson) and Treasury Minister Emma Reynolds became his latest casualty when taking to the airwaves to promote another £590 million in new funding for the Lower Thames Crossing.
Reynolds’ first blunder came as she confused the Dartford tunnel with Dartmouth in Devon, before frantically sifting through her notes to attempt to answer Ferrari’s questions on where the new road from Essex to Kent will start and end. Unfortunately for Reynolds, she was unable to ‘recall the exact landing zone’ which was met with a clear show of contempt from Ferrari (and listeners)
The cherry on top was when the LBC presenter asked how much the project would cost, to which she responded ‘quite a lot of money’ rather than the specific £10 billion answer he was looking for.
Of course, everyone makes mistakes and can have a bad day, but this was a performance to forget for the experienced Reynolds. Starmer reiterated his ‘full confidence’ in the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, but in blundering the core government announcement of the day, Reynolds may need a break from the morning round for a while.