As his beloved Arsenal suffered defeat, Sir Keir Starmer struck gold with a US-UK trade deal, as Kate Devlin and Mille Cooke report
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On Wednesday night, the prime minister had been expecting to settle in to watch his beloved Arsenal take on Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-final of the Champions League.
The game would end in defeat for the London side, beaten in the French capital and ending another season trophyless.
But at the end of the fixture’s 90 minutes Sir Keir Starmer had a reason to be happy.
Halfway through the game, he received a call from Donald Trump. And his longed-for US-UK trade deal - crucial for mitigating the harm of the swingeing US tariffs announced last month - and perhaps the key to saving his premiership - was on.
US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced a trade deal (Carl Court/PA)open image in gallery
US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced a trade deal (Carl Court/PA) (PA Wire)
The final agreement did not come easily, however. As the UK’s ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, let slip in a hastily arranged press conference in the White House less than 24 hours later, there had been a hitch.
The Americans had made an 11th-hour demand for more concessions from the UK. The sticking point did not remain one for long, however. In another part of London on Wednesday night, after making a speech at the Mansion House, the business secretary Jonathan Reynolds was told the agreement was ready.
Mr Trump’s glee at striking the deal was evident. At one point the President, who earlier this year had been minded to reject Mr Mandelson as ambassador, squeezed the Labour grandee’s hand in the Oval office.
In astonishing scenes, he also told Tony Blair’s former spin doctor that he had a "beautiful accent". Mr Mandelson, who is credited with being a key player in ensuring the UK became the first country in the world to sign a deal to offset tariffs with Trump, quipped in return that his late mother “would be proud".
Lord Mandelson even later joked with the President, trying to selling him that epitome of British style, a Rolls-Royce - at a discount, of course.
The car manufacturing sector will benefit from lower tariffs on 100,00 vehicles after the UK-US trade deal (Alberto Pezzali/PA)open image in gallery
The car manufacturing sector will benefit from lower tariffs on 100,00 vehicles after the UK-US trade deal (Alberto Pezzali/PA) (PA Wire)
On the other side of the Atlantic, after signing up to the agreement with the US, the pressure was on to sell the deal to the public.
A free trade agreement with India unveiled earlier in the week had got bogged down in a row with the Tories over exemptions to national insurance for Indian workers and companies that employ them. Designed to prevent either side paying the charge twice, in two different countries, ministers nevertheless found themselves fire fighting what they had hoped would be an overwhelmingly positive announcement.
The unveiling of the US agreement did not go entirely to plan either.
A decision to have the prime minister hold a press conference at the home of another iconic British car brand. Jaguar Land Rover. briefly looked as if it might be derailed when Downing Street accidentally sent the press to the wrong city in error**.**
Almost all the journalists hoping to question Sir Keir arrived in Coventry to find they had to scramble to make their way to the correct venue – located more than half an hour away in Solihull. Even more embarrassingly it was the company that first realised the mistake, not No 10.
The PM discovered the trade deal was on as he watched his beloved Arsenal lose to PSG in the Champions Leagueopen image in gallery
The PM discovered the trade deal was on as he watched his beloved Arsenal lose to PSG in the Champions League (Getty)
The leaders of the US and the UK also faced a rush to announce their deal before white smoke emerged – literally – from the Vatican with the election of a new Pope. In the end the agreement was unveiled with less than an hour to spare.
Government insiders have been keen to stress Sir Keir’s role as the chief negotiator of the deal. He has had a number of private conversations with Mr Trump on the phone in recent weeks, as the two men developed a relationship and thrashed out a deal.
He also sent Lord Mandelson, a politician and not a career diplomat, to Washington in a decision that now appears to have been vindicated - at least until the volatile Mr Trump changes his mind again.
If only Wednesday night had been so successful for Sir Keir’s football team.