Day: May 14, 2025

New Canadian PM ‘entitled to his view’, says Pat McFadden

Good morning. For the last two days the immigration white paper, and the row generated by Keir Starmer’s use of Powellite language to defend it, has dominated Westminster politics, and we may well hear more of that today at PMQs. But there is quite a lot of foreign policy on the table too: the Ukraine negotiations with Russia due to take place in Turkey tomorrow, the crisis in Gaza, and next week’s summit with the EU (an issue of particular interest to Kemi Badenoch). And, of course, Donald Trump remains a ubiquitous news presence, impossible to ignore.

This morning we’ve had an insight into the extent to which the US president caused a rift between the UK and Canada, two countries that for the most part are very strong allies. In an interview with Sky News, Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, admitted that Canadians were unhappy about Keir Starmer’s decision to offer Trump an unprecedented second state visit to the UK when he visited the White House in February. At the time, Trump was still threatening to annex Canada. Asked how Canadians reacted to state visit invitation, Carney replied:

To be frank, they [Canadians] weren’t impressed by that gesture. Quite simply, given the circumstance, it was at a time when we were being quite clear, some of us were being quite clear about the issues around sovereignty. I was not yet prime minister, but I was being clear on the campaign trail and it cut across some of those messages.

Well, that’s a judgment for the government of the United Kingdom and the palace.

I have opinions on many things, some of which I keep to myself.

We’ve got free speech in the world. Prime Minister Carney is entitled to his view. He’s got to decide how Canada conducts its relationships with the United States, and by the same token, so do we.

So I’m completely relaxed about the comments, but I’m glad that President Trump is coming on a state visit, and I’m particularly glad that we’ve conducted a trade deal that saves thousands of automotive jobs in this country and is a platform for future trade which can benefit the United Kingdom economically more in the future too.

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