The Right Honourable Sir Keir Starmer, PC, KCB, KC Prime Minster and the Member for Holborn and St Pancras had long desired to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom & Northern Ireland. He got his wish! He assumed office on 5 July 2024. Not only that, he took office with a thumping majority!
Labour secured 411 seats and a 174-seat majority, the third-best showing in the party’s history and its best since 2001. The party’s vote share was 33.7%, the lowest of any governing party on record, making this the least proportional general election in British history.
Methinks that the happier of two men, Sir Keir and his predecessor, Rishi Sunak, is the latter now freed of the burdens of high office!
Readers will know that am deeply critical of the current Prime Minister having used the various nicknames by which he has become known. He earned (deservedly) these less than flattering nicknames by his reaction to the civil disturbances following the murder of the three young girls in Southport on 29 July 2024.
The most well publicised example being of course Mrs Lucy Conolly.
Of course, there was another general election in 2024. Across “the pond”. Mr Donald J. Trump became President of the USA for the second time.
In Europe a war was raging. The Russia-Ukraine War – a war the Russians thought would be over in a fortnight. In my blog-post yesterday (https://british-gazette.com/together-we-stand-divided-we-fall/) I stated:
Back in 2024 during the US presidential election campaign, I stated that that election would be for the UK the most significant since the election of 1940.
I think that I have been proved right!
Mr Trump’s new defence strategy has overturned an order in Europe and in NATO that has existed since it’s founding in 1949.
Herewith the offending document: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf
If ever there was a more prominent example of a political cat being dropped amongst a flock of political pigeons than the above landing in the laps of the European political establishment, I do not know of it!
The Politico-EU website has reported on the inevitable reaction of those political entities described as “patriotic” by the document: https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-populist-right-hails-donald-trump-teams-eu-bashing/
Of course, the enthusiasm shown across Europe of persons and groups that Sir Keir denigrates as “Far Right” is a prominent example of the age old doctrine of “My enemy’s enemy is my friend!”
Let us face FACTS:
A democratic nation (Ukraine) that admittedly has endemic corruption throughout is society, was invaded by a supposedly democratic nation (Russia). Rarely does history record a conflict that has more “black & white” than “shades of grey”.
The reaction of the two sides of NATO (Western Europe on one side of “the pond” and the USA on the other) was predicable. With the conflict in their continent [“backyard”], Western Europe became very much involved in supplying materiel to Ukraine. Neutral states like Ireland supplied non military humanitarian aid. The Biden administration in the USA gave very significant support across the board but careful to avoid escalating the conflict imposed military restrictions upon Ukraine.
The reaction of the Trump administration has been of a nature, that IF one took the newspaper reports pertaining to it, went back in time forty years to 1985 and used said newspapers to write a political drama series, the broadcasters such as the BBC would reject it as being far too implausible to be credible to an audience!
And yet, what one could not make up has happened!
It truly demonstrates that sometimes, truth can be far, far stranger than fiction!
What we have seen in the second Trump administration is a level of graft and corruption at a level that one would associate with a third world banana republic. In fact, because there exists a small business located in South Florida dedicated to providing high quality tropical fruit for people in the United States (https://miamifruit.org/products/seeded-banana-pre-order) and the USA is not a monarchy we can confidently describe the United States of America as a first world banana republic!
Because of the gravity of the situation the UK and Europe are in, I will give qualified support to this present Labour government insofar as the Ukraine conflict is concerned.
I do not think I am being overly dramatic to state that Sir Keir is facing the gravest peacetime crisis since Neville Chamberlain in 1938.
The infamous “28 point plan” written by Russians – in Russian – and translated into English by Steven Charles Witkoff (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Witkoff) is the most humiliating document to be presented to a government since the ultimatum of 23 July, 1914 – a diplomatic note delivered by the Austro-Hungarian ambassador in Belgrade to the Serbian Minister of Finance.
Ukraine accepting this “28 point plan” to bring about a ceasefire before the commencement of negotiations to bring about a peace will only postpone Russia taking full control of Ukraine.
What should be happening is that the USA should in co-operation with Europe bring pressure on Russia to accept an immediate unconditional ceasefire and begin negotiations. This is NOT happening and will not happen whilst Mr Trump and Mr Vance head up the federal government of the USA.
NB: All is NOT lost! Marjorie Taylor Greene may well be followed by other Republic members in resigning their seats thus forcing what we in the UK call a by-election. If enough Republicans (in the House of Representatives and the Senate) take this course of action we could see Democratic majorities in both houses. This may well give the Democrats and those Republicans prepared to support them the votes necessary to implement some changes.
I think the development that would provoke this would be a decision by Trump to cease US intelligence sharing with Ukraine and the refusal to sanction the export – to Ukraine – of US weapons that have been paid for by European powers.
Hopefully, the Bill would gain a super majority in the Senate to force Trump into signing the Bill into law.
The FACT is that there are NO GOOD OUTCOMES!
IF Trump forces Ukraine to capitulate the annexation of Ukraine by Russia is merely delayed.
IF Congress forces Trump’s hand into supporting Ukraine and Ukraine can stop the exports of Russian oil to India, Russia faces economic collapse by the Summer of 2026. This could be extremely dangerous.