Has Trump killed off the Brexit reset?

“Do not reach through the bars, do not touch the bars. You pass him nothing but soft paper. No pens, no pencils. No staples or paperclips in his paper. Use the sliding food carrier, no exceptions. Do not accept anything he attempts to hold out to you.”

Apart from adding in “for Christ’s sake, don’t mention the disinformation bubble”, the playbook for Keir Starmer ahead of his fun trip to Washington DC next week is about the same as the advice given to Clarice Starling before she met Hannibal Lecter. When greeting Donald Trump in his lair, obey the rules at all times or risk an old fiend having you for dinner.

And Starmer will, because now, just like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris listening impassively as Trump raved and lied through his second inauguration speech, he knows it’s over. The dream of becoming Europe’s Trump whisperer is gone.

Starmer can still flatter Trump – as the former ambassador Kim Darroch has suggested, he can tell him: “This is your chance for your place in history; the man who brought peace and ended this war… but it has to be a fair deal”. But he now knows that the deal Trump does with Vladimir Putin won’t be fair. The sell-out of Ukraine will happen. Tariffs will happen. More interference in European elections will happen.

The only way now is for Starmer is Europe, and this is a moment he must seize. Time is running out.

Rewiring European security and preparing for Trump’s tariffs is consuming almost all of Brussels’ bandwidth. There’s no pressing need for the EU to spend more time on the niceties of Starmer’s “Brexit reset” – they are broadly happy with the Windsor Framework. Any big push on improving trade relations must now come from Britain, in time for a May 19 summit that has to deliver tangible results.

Agreement with France on participation in a “reassurance force” inside Ukraine (already deemed “unacceptable” by Russia) is the start of Starmer showing Europe that he is serious. Reports that Britain is finally ready to participate in a youth mobility scheme are very welcome – the EU was baffled and disappointed that this was a sticking point.

Further momentum on closer trade alignment with Brussels cannot be lost in the Trump earthquake – the wins from it will help pay for the huge increase in defence spending that the US has now made inevitable.

This is how Starmer can sell so-called “Brexit betrayals” like the youth mobility scheme to the country: we either try these mutually beneficial things with our neighbours, or we cut more services and pay more tax to keep ourselves safe now America has abandoned us.

The days when prime ministers and presidents shared a friendly chat over Diet Cokes are over. It’s time to come home to Europe, and a nice Chianti. Just hold the liver.