Keir Starmer has urgent duty to extract whatever advantage for Britain he can from Trump tariffs disaster

Golden chance

KEIR Starmer now has an urgent duty to extract whatever advantage for Britain he can from the Trump tariffs disaster.

That means thinking what for him has been the unthinkable: Stealing a march on the EU he has always revered.

First, though, all talk of revenge tariffs against the US must be jettisoned.

They are a tax ultimately paid by consumers in the country imposing them. The President will find that out in the end.

Why would our PM inflict yet more hardship on Britain just to appease Trump-hating Labour and Lib Dem virtue-signallers? It would be insane.

Trump, who acts on whims and prejudices, would probably hit back by ­doubling our ten per cent tariff if we brainlessly engaged in a trade war we cannot win.

There is nothing Labour can do about him being President — or to convince him of his folly, even as it continues to crash global stock .

It is possible America might axe our tariffs if Labour negotiates a free trade deal — but it’s very far from certain.

Pending that, the Government should count itself “lucky”; that our levy, entirely thanks to , is half the EU’s.

And it should rapidly exploit that advantage to lure exporters and investors from the Continent to our shores for the cheaper US access we will have.

It is spectacularly ironic that this vital task should fall to Sir Keir.

Arguably Britain’s most ardent Remainer Europhile, the Brexit-hater who championed a second referendum, is now able to undercut the Brussels club and nick its .

His “reset”; in UK-EU relations is pointless. His mission for growth is failing utterly. So here, admittedly against all of Labour’s instincts, is a golden opportunity to generate some, and snatch a measure of victory from the jaws of defeat.

“Country before party”;, he often says. Can Sir Keir bring himself to act on it?

If not, what IS his growth strategy in this chaotic new world?

Clown court

YET again a judge frees clowns out of sympathy with their cause.

It cost taxpayers a staggering £104,750 to clean off the red paint they sprayed on the Treasury.

Three had previous convictions. But they walked away with suspended ­sentences because Judge Nicholas ­Rimmer said they had a “heartfelt, ­conscientious motive”;.

So what? He and some of his colleagues seem unable to judge dispassionately the actions of criminals whose beliefs they admire. It cannot be right.

Millions care about the climate ­without breaking the law. These self-centred morons decided to “help”; by brainlessly damaging a public building.

Why weren’t they properly punished — and billed for every penny?