London: President Trump’s inauguration has had a mesmerising effect on UK, the American optimism is palpable and a dramatic contrast to UK’s dismal political and economic outlook. Trump has previous presidential experience and he is prepared, the Trump team in place is primed to follow through the flurry of Executive Orders, not all of them universally well received in US and internationally.
The inauguration was a seamless performance and a glimpse for the insightful of what lies ahead for UK and Europe. Heads of Government are not generally invited, even less so in the case of PM Sir Keir Starmer after the Labour party actively campaigned for the Democrats (TSG UK Labour Party faces FEC complaint over US election support). Lord Maurice Glasman was the only Labour politico seen, the Peer has been a lifelong advocate and stalwart for the working classes. Boris Johnson was the only British politico at the inauguration in the Rotunda; a few UK politicos and MPs including Liz Truss, Priti Patel and Nigel Farage, were also present at the surrounding celebrations having taken advantage of the many packages on offer. Europe’s right of centre were in force at the inauguration, Italy’s fiery and decisive PM Georgia Meloni, co-leader of Germany’s AfDTinoChrupalla, from France Eric Zemmour leader of the Reconquête Party, Spain’s Vox party President Santiago Abascal, Belgium’s Tom Van Grieken leader of VlaamsBelang Party and the Polish former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. This shows how Trump envisages the future of Europe, personal relationships with less emphasis on the EU, in contrast to Starmer who is umbilically attached to the EU.
Trump’s victory owes some of its success to how his campaign appealed not only to the High Net Worths and High Society but also to the working class and minorities; the latter personified by The Village People, whose band includes characters representing the police/military, the construction industry (mega employer in the US), the Navy, Native Americans, Cowboy culture and Biker culture; their YMCA anthem is a favourite of the President. Another memorable moment was when the choir sang the battle hymn of the Republic, with the words “his truth is marching on” which paradoxically chimed with his Truth Social platform and messaging.
Many previous parliamentarian bad-mouthers in UK have turned into obsequious beggars; the establishment and the government are U-turning on their vitriol for Trump and sending congratulatory tweets, but the legacy media have not exactly embraced MAGA, they view a trump with suspicion and scepticism. British people gave a similar mandate to Boris Johnson in 2019 to make Britain Great again, this was an unfortunate misplacement of trust and ended in abject failure and disappointment.
The Starmer scandal around the grooming gangs is a national disgrace and this will not help Vice President’s JD Vance’s impression that Britain might become the first nuclear armed Islamist country. Since the very first incriminating reports twenty years ago, successive governments have failed to confront the issue of mostly British Pakistani ethnicity and ignorant Muslim beliefs/excuses in these odious crimes committed against young and vulnerable white girls.
On 8 January a Conservative amendment was proposed in Parliament calling for a national inquiry but it was rejected by 350 Labour MPs and 10 independent MPs; instead possibly thanks to pressure from Elon Musk, the Home Secretary has offered a “rapid audit” and 5 new local inquiries but not a national statutory inquiry. These half measures have been awarded £17.5million which seems insufficient when the 2018 Telford inquiry alone cost £5million.
Society wants accountability and justice served against the perpetrators of child rape and the agencies who deliberately overlooked and dismissed these crimes. It remains to be seen if Labour can turn their back on the vote bank politics they depend on, oand the ensuing “bad publicity” for Labour Councils at the time of by-elections, then actually implement protections against child sexual exploitation and enforce the obligations of public servants and the police.
The PM is also under attack for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) directing the police to withhold critical information from the public about Axel Rudakubana, the murderer who violently stabbed to death three little girls in Southport in July 2024. In the spirit of human rights the CPS felt the information might prejudice the trial of Mr Rudakubana if his Al’Qaeda manual, obsession with school massacres, his possession of ricin and his many instances of violent behaviour were revealed. Judge Justice Goose sentenced Rudakubana to 52 years (the maximum sentence for an under 18year old) of imprisonment on Friday made clear he had a detailed interest in extremism. Reportedly there were 15 opportunities when the danger of this 17 year old did not meet the criteria for intervention, including numerous referrals to Prevent (the government programme to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism),which were only publicly revealed this week. Nigel Farage MP and Leader of ReformUK Party is calling for Stephen Parkinson Director of Public Prosecutions at CPS to resign for his negligence in this case. Public sentiment would also like all those who failed to recognise the danger of Rudakubana to resign. Starmer gave a speech denying any cover-up and introducing a new kind of terror alert “acts of extreme violence perpetrated by loners, misfits, young men in their bedroom, accessing all manner of material online, desperate for notoriety”. Starmer said these young men have no ideology, the Al’Qaeda training manual must have slipped his mind. In a bizarrely obtuse response Starmer’s government are blaming Amazon for selling the knife online to the teenager. The youth of radicalism is backed up by what Ken McCallum, Director General of MI5 said in October 2024 “Sadly, 13% of all those being investigated by MI5 for involvement in UK terrorism are under 18. That’s a threefold increase in the last three years”.
Despite the failures of Boris Johnson and due to the current negativity towards Starmer, on 21 January Statista polling found that “As of the first quarter of 2025, 34 percent of people in Great Britain indicated that they liked the current U.S. President Donald Trump, compared with 27 percent in the previous quarter.”, this might explain the increasing inclination towards the ReformUK Party.