Imagine the most important work meeting you’ve ever had with the most demanding, unpredictable manager you could think of.
You’re going into the boss’ office for a negotiation that could well determine the success or failure of your whole career, and you already know they’re going to hammer you over every aspect of the deal, just as soon as they’re done giving you a crushing handshake.
To be honest, a lot of your coworkers think the boss might be a bit mad, and has already got it in for you.
His best pal in the office has been posting all over social media about what a rubbish job you’re doing – when he’s not busy waving around a chainsaw, to celebrate cutting the company headcount.
White House/Molly RileyOh, and I forgot to mention – the meeting starts with the world’s media in attendance, shoving cameras and shouting questions in your face. It ends with a press conference where the boss gets to tell everyone exactly how he thinks it went – even if that doesn’t bear much resemblance to the truth.
Sounds like a nightmare, doesn’t it?
But that is Keir Starmer’s waking reality on Thursday, as he prepares to walk into the Oval Office to meet Donald Trump for the first time as President.
Okay, the US President isn’t actually the Prime Minister’s boss – but the impact he could have on the success or failure of Keir Starmer’s premiership means he might as well be.
That’s true in a very immediate sense: Thursday’s meeting could be a defining moment.
Trump has the potential to make it embarrassing, even excruciating for the Prime Minister, on any number of fronts.
Starmer will be sitting next to the most powerful man in the world, live on prime-time TV, and he could – and often does – say the last thing you’d expect.
Remember those cringeworthy encounters with Theresa May, during Trump’s first term?
An embarrassing clip from the Oval Office could go down in history. No wonder the Prime Minister was so careful in his remarks to journalists on the flight over to Washington, and has declined to give any of the interviews that are traditional on a big American visit.
That’s the choreography, but when it comes to the substance, the meeting has huge significance, too.
It could decide the course of the war in Ukraine, with any peace deal depending on the security guarantees that underwrite it.
Starmer has offered to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine to help keep the peace, but only if the US promises to be the ultimate security guarantor for a deal.
Trump says he’s not interested, and security is Europe’s problem.
If British men and women in uniform are stationed in Ukraine within the next year, it could be Thursday’s meeting that sets that in motion.
The meeting isn’t just about war and peace abroad; it matters much closer to home.
Just the prospect of a world without US security guarantees this week forced the Prime Minister to rush through a big increase in defence spending, and equally big cuts in international aid to pay for it. Further spending cuts or tax rises could be needed, too.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration continues to threaten big tariffs on foreign imports, including from the UK.
Tariffs of 25% have already been announced on the steel industry, which are due to come into force in March.
Scotland has even bigger exports that could be hit next, like Scotch whisky.
Starmer’s trade pitch to Trump could be the difference between hundreds of millions of pounds of losses for Scottish businesses.
This is a moment the Prime Minister has been building up to since before Trump won re-election; Starmer made a point of booking a Trump Tower dinner with the then-Republican presidential candidate, the last time he was in the US.
The two men reportedly got on well at that dress rehearsal despite being wildly different characters, personally and politically.
But since then, Elon Musk has been added to Trump’s cabinet, and has pumped out attacks against the Labour Prime Minister on his own social media platform, X – many based on inaccuracies and conspiracies.
Musk and Trump have also given strong backing to Starmer’s biggest political rival, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, in an unprecedented bit of interference in the UK’s domestic politics.
As Trump himself might say, it will be unmissable television, beautiful ratings – and if the world leaders keep to schedule, you’ll be able to watch the first moments of it on the STV News at Six.
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