Streeting's EU Plan would cost our hard-won relationship with Trump

Tuesday 19 May 2026 5:17 am

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Monday 18 May 2026 12:00 pm

West Streeting has called for Britain to rejoin the EU

West Streeting’s pitch to rejoin the EU may play well with Labour Party members, but it will rile up Trump and prove a liability for whoever has to govern, writes Michael MartinsWes Streeting’s pitch to rejoin the EU is a dangerous play The special relationship has obviously changed over the past decade. From President Obama’s famous “back of the queue” speech following the referendum result to President Trump’s self-appointed role as Mr Brexit, the White House has mainly looked at the UK’s Brexit question through the prism of trade policy.It is therefore clear that Wes Streeting’s recent suggestion for the UK to rejoin the EU, floated to secure the 81 MP signatures he needs to take a tilt at becoming Prime Minister, will not have gone unnoticed in the White House.Setting aside the bureaucratic and political horror of revisiting the EU membership debate, President Trump has made his views on the EU abundantly clear. He regards it as a protectionist trading bloc that competes with American commercial interests, and as a lacklustre military alliance whose members freeride on US military power. Voters should be concerned that Streeting’s rejoin campaign risks forcing the next Prime Minister into an impossible choice between Washington and Brussels at precisely the moment when maintaining both relationships matters most. EU membership means surrendering trade policy to Brussels, which would almost certainly unwind the recently negotiated UK-US Economic and Technology Prosperity Deals, flagship agreements for Trump’s second term.Leadership contests have a habit of closing off options rather than creating them. If rejoining becomes a successful rallying cry for Labour to recapture Green and Liberal Democrat voters, President Trump will have every incentive to publicly accuse the UK of reneging on agreed deals, which will only compound his existing frustration over British engagement on the Strait of Hormuz. Streeting’s cynical play for leadership contest votes could rapidly become a serious liability for whoever has to govern.Streeting may have calculated that standing up to Trump plays well with the MPs and Labour Party members he needs to become Prime Minister, but it will probably end up making governing even more difficult as the next PM finds themselves at a very public loggerheads with the world’s superpower. With over 400 MPs, why are we airdropping in Burham?If I was a Labour MP, I’d be left scratching my head a bit as to why none of the homegrown, already elected talent is not up to the job of PM. If the Labour Party’s view is that no current Labour MP is fit to succeed Starmer to be Prime Minister or that factional in-fighting is going to be so horrific that nothing will get done, how is Burnham going to govern? Perhaps for the best given he wants to nationalise so many industries, I guess? I’ve become obsessed with Michael O’Leary Although a blunt and divisive character, I think O’Leary’s recent round of media interviews is illustrating how government actions affect our day-to-day lives in a very accessible way. Ryanair’s social media campaign to pressure European airports to delay implementing the EU’s new passport checking scheme is brilliant, pointing out that some queues are now longer than the flights themselves. Ryanair’s profitability lends O’Leary the corporate credibility, while his nuance suggests that he gets into the weeds of his business in a way most CEOs struggle to. Huge fan. Being a landlord is no longer economical A friend of mine is in the process of renting out their flat and they recently walked me through the numbers and unsurprisingly, it’s now become cheaper to leave their flat empty than to rent it out, once taxes, estate agency fees, service charges and standard management and maintenance fees are factored in. Between that and the new Renters Rights Act, I’m unsurprised the rental market is as difficult as it is. The European Writers Festival is my favourite obscure London festival Amidst the flurry of leadership challenges and client meetings, it was nice to decompress this weekend and spend an afternoon listening to the writers at the annual European Writers Festival. This year’s crop of writers was no less eccentric than last year’s and were great fun to listen to as they opened up about their lives and experiences over a series of panels. My favourite was Bulgarian writer Zdravka Evtimova, who was the festival’s most engaging speaker. She constantly broke through the fourth wall, taking on the role of quasi-standup comedian doing crowd work, rather than serious literary figure engaging with her fellow panellists about the merits of translated literature. For that reason, she endearingly earned the nickname “unhinged Soviet grandmother” among some of the festival’s guests and injected a bit of levity into my Saturday. Michael Martins is the founder of Overton Advisory and a former political and economic specialist at US Embassy London