The recent ‘hand jiu-jitsu’ with Keir Starmer is just the latest awkward exchange between the US president and world leaders
As Keir Starmer handed Donald Trump his unprecedented invitation from King Charles – a second state visit – he grasped the US president chummily by the shoulder, more than once.
Starmer was skating a tricky line, between matey familiarity and patronising reassurance, which must have been tutored, as he’s not a tactile man. Trump’s body language looked completely untaught, because nobody could teach this. The man has always been incredibly idiosyncratic.
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