Keir Starmer sought to turn Donald Trump’s controversial state visit into an economic win, announcing a record £150bn package of US investment in the UK.
The two-day visit began on Wednesday with the US president kept largely inside Windsor Castle amid tight security, while thousands of protesters gathered in London.
Trump was welcomed by King Charles and Queen Camilla before a state banquet attended by business leaders including Apple’s Tim Cook and OpenAI’s Sam Altman.
The investment announcement, billed as the largest ever in Britain, includes £90bn from private equity giant Blackstone, £3.9bn from Prologis, and £1.5bn from Palantir, with the government claiming 7,600 new jobs will be created in clean energy and life sciences.
Microsoft also pledged £22bn in UK projects earlier this year. Starmer hailed the deals as proof Britain is “open, ambitious and ready to lead.”
But critics accused Downing Street of overplaying the announcement. Former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg dismissed the tech commitments as “sloppy seconds from Silicon Valley,” suggesting the deals were repackaged to coincide with Trump’s visit.
Campaigners also questioned what regulatory concessions might be offered to US tech firms.
Despite efforts to showcase unity, the visit comes at a fraught moment for Starmer, who has lost both his deputy, Angela Rayner, and UK ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, in recent weeks.
In London, protesters at a Stop Trump rally denounced the president, with musician Billy Bragg performing and comedian Nish Kumar mocking the US leader. A planned F-35 flypast was cancelled due to bad weather, and Trump appeared bored at times, though he praised the king as a very special man.
A YouGov poll released on Wednesday found over half of Britons believe Trump’s presidency has been bad for the UK.
Read also: King Charles, Queen Camilla welcome Trump to UK amid protests
