TW

Like him or loathe him, President Donald Trump's visit to Britain can be deemed as a major success and was a welcome break from all the failed Brexit attempt. One thing which was clearly evident was that if there was a gold medal for pomp and ceremony Britain would win first prize and even the US president looked impressed. To be honest I had initially been opposed to this visit because I suspected that Trump would launch it as a platform for his anti-Brexit stance and criticise outgoing Prime Minister May. In the end he did no such thing. He even promised a major trade deal.

Did the attitude towards Trump in Britain change slightly following the visit? I suspect that he won a few new supporters but not many. The biggest loser from the Trump visit was Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. After snubbing the president by not attending the official state banquet and then addressing an anti-Trump march, he then asks the president for a private meeting which was being kept rather secret. Trump was right to say that the Corbyn camp had wanted to meet him because it rather showed the Labour leader in a hypocritical light, and there was plenty of hypocrisy during the Trump visit to Britain.

I do not know whether the special relationship exists any longer or whether it ever actually existed, but one thing is for sure - after months of Brexit low points Britain proved that it can still roll out the red carpet in style.