May-Trump visit: 'If we suck up we will muck up'
Can the PM have a relationship of equals with Donald Trump? She needs to for the sake of her own standing, says Sky's Beth Rigby.
Thursday 26 January 2017 17:58, UK
Theresa May flies to Washington today with a pitch to POTUS: Britain and the US can "lead together again".聽
Heralding the election of Donald Trump as a moment of "renewal", the .
In her pocket? The outline of a trade deal that she would like to strike with the US.
The first world leader to meet the new President, Number 10 has framed the visit as a golden opportunity for Brexit Britain, but it is also one that carries with it huge risk.
As she prepares to board her prime ministerial plane, after the new US leader expressed support for torture of terrorist suspects, ordered a wall to be built between Mexico and the US and cut abortion funding for developing nations.
"He starts on (the) wall, praises waterboarding, bullies climate scientists. (May) says they can lead together. Surely decent Tories feel queasy?" tweeted Ed Miliband.
And I can answer that question - yes, they do.
As one senior Conservative said to me earlier this week: "If we suck up we will muck up."
The Prime Minister is in danger of abasing herself and Britain's standing in the world if she kowtows to a White House so deeply at odds with the UK and her allies.
The flashpoints are numerous.
She wants a strong EU, while President Trump has expressed enthusiasm for the break-up of the European club.
She supports a two-state solution in the Middle East, while the US President wants to increase support for Israel.
He has hinted he wants the Iran nuclear deal scrapped and bring President Putin in from the cold even as Russia continues as an aggressor on the border of Ukraine.
Even on her more narrow trade agenda, the rhetoric is likely to get bogged down in the reality. Mr Trump is a protectionist and deal maker who will demand favourable terms.
But can Mrs May give him those terms amid strong domestic resistance to US food exports and its healthcare market?
Only yesterday at PMQs, Angus Robertson, the leader of the Scottish National Party, urged Mrs May not to accept certain US exports as part of any UK-US trade deal.
"It wants to export genetically modified organisms, beef raised using hormones and chicken meat washing with chlorinated water, " he said.
For Mrs May this two-day trip has one goal - a trade deal. But with every executive order President Trump signs and interview he gives, the risks to her own standing on the world stage are growing.
In the build-up to the visit, the inevitable question has been raised: can Mrs May emulate with President Trump what Margaret Thatcher had with Ronald Reagan?
After the water board comments, she might decide she can't - or won't.
But she should remember, Thatcher was an equal ally, not a presidential poodle.
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