00:00Now, the U.S. President is set to host the British Prime Minister at his golf resort in Scotland.
00:05Donald Trump and Keir Starmer are expected to discuss trade and the humanitarian situation in Gaza as well.
00:12We can now bring in Dennis McShane, former British Minister of State for Europe and author of Brexit, How Britain Left Europe.
00:18Thank you so much for joining us on the program today.
00:21Now, Donald Trump is hosting Keir Starmer a day after he hosted Ursula von der Leyen.
00:25The pair will then travel to another Trump golf course in Aberdeen.
00:29In terms of just the optics here, who has the upper hand?
00:34I doubted the Donald Trump because he knows what he wants from Europe, from Britain, and he is making every effort to obtain it.
00:46Principally, I think, now to get as many tariffs on any goods imported into America from around the world, which will provide America and the United States government with revenue, with money for his projects for massive tax cuts and cuts in social services, health care, supporting families and the rest.
01:12So, it's just a rather typical Trump manoeuvre.
01:17Now, he's doing it on a golf course.
01:18Keir Starmer, I don't think, has ever picked up a golf club in his life.
01:22But he's gone up there.
01:24Just as Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, came to Scotland yesterday.
01:29And they're all, as it were, in attendance on the travelling court of Donald Trump.
01:36Well, I hope for his sake, he doesn't have to actually play golf with the U.S. President.
01:41But Keir Starmer is under pressure to realistically improve or pressure Israel to improve the humanitarian situation on the ground in Gaza.
01:52We know that the only person, the one country that has the most sway over the state of Israel is the United States.
01:58Will Keir Starmer really pressure Donald Trump to do more and to use whatever leverage the U.S. has on Israel?
02:07What do you think?
02:10Mr. Starmer refused to support the initiative of President Macron to recognize Palestine.
02:18I don't think, frankly, he could have agreed with Mr. Macron on the eve of a visit by President Trump.
02:24Because, as we know, Mr. Trump has criticized very strongly the Macron initiative.
02:31But Mr. Starmer is under huge political pressure here, with a great number of his own members of Parliament signing a letter saying that Britain should follow France and recognize Palestine.
02:48And there's just such widespread concern, disgust, unhappiness, as our TV screens show every night these little skeleton of children being starved to death as a result of Mr. Netanyahu's policy of not allowing in any food.
03:08But what do you think is holding Keir Starmer back if a majority of his party want to see the recognition of a Palestinian state?
03:16And you also have a lot of young people who have been out on the streets of London and other cities across the U.K. calling for a ceasefire, calling for the Israeli blockade on Gaza to end.
03:27What, in your opinion, is holding the British Prime Minister back?
03:30I think, if you like, it's an old word, realpolitik.
03:35Nobody in the world, nobody in the U.N., nobody in the French government, nobody in any democratic government,
03:41thinks that offering technical recognition to the state of Palestine that doesn't exist, doesn't have a government, doesn't have a capital, doesn't have leaders,
03:53will actually change Mr. Netanyahu's policy.
03:57He seems to want to eliminate the Palestine presence from Gaza and is determined to go about it in this very cruel method.
04:09And at the same time, Hamas refuses to release the hostages.
04:14I mean, they've kept these poor Israelis prisoners since after they had the massacre of all the Jewish people in October two years ago.
04:23And Hamas also is enjoying the idea that it's still a player by holding women, men, and the very old people hostage underground.
04:35Dennis, Mikshen, thank you so much for joining us on the program today.
