The president was feted by King Charles III with the sort of pageantry he covets, signed a technology deal and steered clear of big disagreements with Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The prime minister and his team are delighted – and relieved.
State visits are far from a new tool in the British armoury of soft power, but they are frequently a useful one – and particularly with an unpredictable ally with an abiding love for the UK in general and its monarchy in particular.
That was why, back in February and brandished with a flourish, Sir Keir Starmer delivered the King's invitation to US President Donald Trump for a second such visit.
Gratefully received as it was, his British hosts still needed to pull it off, and the prime minister still needed to make it through the potential rollercoaster of a news conference with his guest.
And that is what Sir Keir managed and so hence his team's relief.
They have now – on several occasions – managed to tame Trump during their joint public appearances.
It is not that the two men agree on everything, far from it.
Their instincts, communication styles and politics are wildly different, but Trump's disagreements with Sir Keir were somehow channelled past him, rather than at him.
The UK is expected to recognise a Palestinian state in the coming days - when, from Downing Street's perspective, the president is safely back on his own side of the Atlantic. The president acknowledged to me he disagrees with the prime minister on this.
He said so explicitly, but gently, and only at the end of a lengthy answer which the Starmer would have agreed with the thrust of.
Even his remarks about illegal immigration, while headline making, seem to have less impact in this the second half of the first year of his second term. The president's willingness to comment on the internal politics of an ally feels more priced in, and so carries less shock value for many.
In advance of the news conference, there had been much speculation about the potential for his mood to sour instantly on the mention of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
But, confronted by it and asked in particular about Epstein's friendship with the former British Ambassador to the United States Lord Mandelson, he instantly smothered it as if with a fire blanket.
His answer was curious, claiming he didn't know Lord Mandelson – despite them meeting in the White House last week, for a start.
Downing Street may allow themselves to hope theirs is a relationship with the Trump administration that is normalising and - whisper it - at least some of the time bordering on the conventional, and so less demanding on the bandwidth and mental energy devoted to it in its early months.
The caveat, of course, with Donald Trump, is you never know.
This state visit provided the UK with invaluable face time with the president – and so the opportunity to both set out the UK's position and attempt to persuade.
The prime minister has been successful in the former, but the persuasion bit? That's rather more tricky.
Spectacular autumn leaves expected after warm UK summer
Image source, Getty
Published
Bright reds, orange and gold colours will gradually appear on our trees in the coming weeks.
The autumn tree display is expected to be even more vibrant this year according to Forestry England, external.
Very warm and sunny weather over the summer means that trees have produced more sugar in their leaves which will transform them into brighter colours.
Early displays are likely from mid-September and lasting well into November in some parts of the UK.
Image source, Getty
Image caption,
Reds, orange and golden leaves expected to bring a flamboyant autumn display this year
Why do leaves change colour in autumn?
With the nights drawing in along with wetter, windier and cooler weather recently, you may have noticed it's starting to feel like autumn.
One of the more spectacular parts of the new season arriving is the leaves turning into a colourful display.
Forestry England experts think this autumn will be even more dramatic than usual.
"We've had a very warm and sunny summer, and that helps trees build up the sugars in their leaves that create those amazing autumn colours...and we're expecting a really beautiful display this year," said Andrew Smith, Director of Forestry England's Westonbirt, The National Arboretum.
Gradually the lower light levels into autumn reduces the production of the green pigment - chlorophyll - and the underlying colours of yellow, red and orange come through.
But with a record-breaking warm summer and sunshine amounts above average, trees produced more sugars in their leaves.
And with higher sugar concentrations, a pigment called anthocyanin is produced, making the leaves even redder.
Forestry England suggests that "if we continue to experience warm days and cool, dry nights in September, we could see one of the most flamboyant autumn displays in recent years".
However, as Kevin Martin, Head of Tree Collections at Kew Gardens points out "we may not see the spectacular display when all trees change colour at once, as some trees have already changed and shed their leaves".
Known as a 'false autumn' - the leaves on some trees such as horse chestnut have already turned brown and dropped in response to the stress of drought.
Although in response to the recent rainfall, some of these trees at Kew Gardens have started to regrow temporarily before the regular autumn change comes.
Image source, Getty
Image caption,
Autumn colours are expected to peak at Kew Gardens in mid-to-late October
Best time for autumn leaves
With varying weather and temperatures across the UK, the displays of autumn leaves may not all come at the same time.
And different trees will also react to the changing conditions at different times.
In southern England trees are expected to start changing from mid-September.
At Kew for example, Mr Martin suggests there will be a "good overlap when many of the trees will be changing colour from mid-to-late October".
"And one of the most spectacular displays of autumn colour is the American ash where the leaves will turn a golden yellow before changing into purples and deep red," he added.
In central parts of the UK peak colours are expected from late September to mid-October according to experts.
And in northern parts where temperatures are lower with rainfall likely to be higher, the vibrant colours are more likely to last into November.
综合台湾《自由时报》和ETtoday新闻云报道，林佳龙当地时间星期三（9月17日）出席台驻意大利代表处馆舍整修竣工典礼暨酒会。包括意大利参议院副议长钱益友（Gian Marco Centinaio）、意大利国会友台协会主席马兰（Lucio Malan）、意大利国会友台协会共同主席帕洛里（Adriano Paroli）等在内的16名参众议员与会。
Democrats opened investigations, filed motions to subpoena and demandedthe resignation of the Federal Communications Commission chair Thursday — a response to the suspension of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel that represented unusually swift pushback from a party struggling to find its footing.
But it’s not clear how Democrats will translate this relatively united front into an electoral strategy, as the party remains divided over how and how much to talk about threats to democracy ahead of next year’s pivotal midterm elections.
That tension began playing out in their descriptions of Kimmel's suspension, as some Democrats urged their party to retool its messaging.
At a press conference on Capitol Hill to announce legislation to protect free speech, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) attacked President Donald Trump for “trying to destroy our democracy” and acting like “many would-be despots.” Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) cautioned “fascism is not on the way, it is here.” But Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who is running for the U.S. Senate in a high-profile primary, warned that language may be “too abstract for people” and urged Democrats to “distill it down to something people get in their everyday life.”
“This is what we saw in 2024: When you talk about ‘fascism’ and ‘democracy’ and ‘oligarchy,’ it’s too big a concept,” McMorrow said. “People are so overwhelmed and when it’s too big, people just wonder, ‘well, what can I possibly do about it?’”
A House Democratic member, granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly, warned of “a risk in talking about it in hyperbolic terms,” adding that there’s distinction in framing. “If you’re saying, ‘they're taking away your speech and they're canceling you,’ that’s more powerful than saying, ‘they’re taking away your democracy,’” the lawmaker added.
The Kimmel controversy — and how to talk about it — lands in the middle of an already-inflamed political landscape. Following last week’s killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Kimmel made comments Monday that appeared to align Kirk’s alleged killer with the MAGA movement. ABC announced Kimmel’s suspension on Wednesday night, after FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatened the network if it didn’t take action, telling a conservative podcaster, “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
"It's very clearly part of a crackdown on freedom of speech,” former federal Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told POLITICO. “If we can't have comedians, let alone law firms or academics or journalists speaking their mind, then this isn't a free country."
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a statement with colleagues lambasting the FCC's "corrupt abuse of power."
Even so, veteran Democratic strategist David Axelrod warned that Democrats must not lose focus.
“The main thing needs to be the main thing and the main thing is that people have struggles in their lives in this economy, and Democrats need to keep that the focus," he said, "but that doesn't mean that you can ignore what isn't just a free speech issue.”
“He said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk,” Trump said. “You can call that free speech or not, he was fired for lack of talent.”
Even some Trump-friendly comedians and podcasters have raised concerns over Kimmel’s suspension. Tim Dillon, who interviewed then-vice presidential candidate JD Vance last year, posted on Instagram: “I am against Kimmel being taken off the air and against people being shot for their opinions. See how easy it is?” One of the hosts of the Flagrant podcast, who interviewed Trump in 2024, said, “in terms of censorship, freedom of speech is more under attack now, honestly, than I think it’s ever been.”
Democrats see it as an opening for breaking through to “people who are not hard partisans,” said Tim Hogan, a Democratic National Committee senior adviser.
“There is a broad audience that’s splintering from Trump’s coalition that understands everyone and anyone could be a target for something they say,” Hogan said. “This is not amorphous, this is going after your right to free speech.”
North Carolina state Sen. Graig Meyer urged his party to “meme this” rather than lecture voters on it, adding that, “yes, it’s authoritarianism,” but “Democrats should talk about it like, ‘Republicans want to take away your laughs,’” he said.
“The left is so bad at doing that type of culturally embedded storytelling and Republicans are so good at it,” Meyer said. “This is a chance to change the narrative around Trump, and it’s a chance to change the cultural narrative around Democrats, being willing to fight and providing an alternative.”
The flurry of controversial events is forcing a party in the political wilderness to confront anew an issue that bedeviled it during the presidential election last year.
Leaning on democracy as a campaign message didn’t help Democrats in 2024, when they deployed it against Trump and he nevertheless won the popular vote. Kamala Harris held one of her final campaign rallies last fall on the Ellipse, the same spot where Trump rallied his own supporters to march on the Capitol.
Several national Democrats said privately that Kimmel and free speech are “not going to be the top midterm issues Democrats are talking about,” one strategist said granted anonymity to discuss it candidly.
“Poll after poll shows that Trump’s threats to democracy aren't a top issue for swing voters, and I don’t see it dominating in TV ads next fall,” said Democratic pollster Brian Stryker. “But sometimes you have to fight for things because it's the right thing to do for the country and not because it's going to win you an election. And if we don't fight now, we may not have elections to fight to win in the future.”
Adam Wren and Cassandra Dumay contributed reporting.
The university had been roiled after a student filmed herself arguing with the instructor of a children’s literature course that recognized more than two genders.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s decision to bring departmental charges against the two officers follows a finding that they used excessive force against the man, Win Rozario.
After stopping at Luton Airport the US president swapped into a different helicopter and continued to Stansted
The helicopter carrying US President Donald Trump was forced to divert to Luton Airport as he finished his state visit to the UK.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said "due to a minor hydraulic issue", the aircraft landed at a "local airfield" before later reaching Stansted around 20 minutes behind schedule.
She said the decision was taken "out of an abundance of caution" adding that the president and first lady "safely boarded the support helicopter".
Emergency services were spotted on the tarmac at Luton following the landing.
Separate images show both of Trump's helicopters, known as Marine One and Marine Two, just off Luton's runway.
Marine One and Marine Two are specially adapted aircraft known as "white tops" because of their livery.
Story Picture Agency
Emergency services are seen at Luton Airport following the landing
They are fitted with missile defence and radar jamming systems as well as electronics designed to withstand the electromagnetic pulse of a nuclear blast.
As a security measure, Marine One often flies in a group of identical helicopters acting as decoys.
It is also usually accompanied by two or three Osprey MV-22s - tilt-rotor aircraft referred to as "green tops" that combine the vertical landing ability of a helicopter with the flying speed and efficiency of an aeroplane.
The Ospreys carry support staff, special forces and secret service agents, who are tasked with dealing with any mid-flight emergency.
PA Media
Marine One landed at Chequers in Buckinghamshire as part of Donald Trump's second state visit
Trump had been using the Marine One helicopter to travel between different locations on his unprecedented second state visit to the UK.
He arrived at Stansted late on Tuesday night and was flown to Winfield House in central London - the official residence of the US ambassador to the UK.
The following day, President Trump and his wife flew to Windsor Castle where they met the King and Queen.
On Thursday, Trump was taken on Marine One from Windsor to Chequers for diplomatic talks with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Some people in France were upset to learn this week that their political chaos was being laughed at… by the Italians.
In less than two years France has gone through five prime ministers, a political feat unsurpassed even in Rome's times of post-war political turbulence.
And now, the French parliament – reconfigured after the president's decision to hold a snap election in July 2024 – is struggling to produce a majority capable of passing a budget.
Add to this a general strike on Thursday called by unions opposed to previous budget proposals. The strike saw a third of the country's teachers walk out and most pharmacies shut, with many underground lines in Paris shut too.
Newspapers in Rome and Turin exhibited a distinct gioia maligna (malicious joy) in recounting recent events. There was the humiliation of the recently departed Prime Minister François Bayrou, the warnings of spiralling debt and the prospect of the French economy needing to be bailed out by the IMF.
But most of all, there was the fading glory of the president, Emmanuel Macron.
"So where is the grandeur now?" asked Il Messaggero.
LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images
The cost of servicing French national debt this year is estimated at €67bn
The cost of servicing national debt this year is estimated to be €67 billion - it now consumes more money than all government departments except education and defence.
Forecasts suggest that by the end of the decade it will outstrip even them, reaching €100 billion a year.
Last Friday, the ratings agency Fitch downgraded French debt, potentially making it more expensive for the French government to borrow, reflecting growing doubts about the country's stability and ability to service that debt.
The possibility of having to turn, cap in hand, to the International Monetary Fund for a loan or to require intervention from the European Central Bank, is no longer fanciful.
And all this against a background of international turmoil: war in Europe, disengagement by the Americans, the inexorable rise of populism.
REUTERS/Tom Nicholson
Unions and left-wing parties organised mass demonstrations against the government's plans
Last Wednesday there was a national day of protest organised by a group called Bloquons Tout (Let's Block Everything). Hijacked by the far-left, it made little impact bar some high-visibility street clashes.
But a much bigger test came yesterday, with unions and left-wing parties organising mass demonstrations against the government's plans.
In the words of veteran political commentator Nicolas Baverez: "At this critical moment, when the very sovereignty and freedom of France and Europe are at stake, France finds itself paralysed by chaos, impotence and debt."
President Macron insists he can extricate the country from the mess but he has just 18 months remaining of his second term.
REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
Nicolas Baverez says France is "paralysed by chaos, impotence and debt."
One possibility is that the country's inherent strengths – its wealth, infrastructure, institutional resilience – will see it through what many feel is a historic turning-point.
But there is another scenario: that it emerges permanently weakened, prey to extremists of left and right, a new sick man of Europe.
Tensions with prime ministers
All of this dates back to Macron's disastrous dissolution of the National Assembly in the early summer of 2024. Far from producing a stronger basis for governing, the new parliament was now split three ways: centre, left and far-right.
No single group could hope to form a functioning government because the other two would always unite against it.
Michel Barnier and then François Bayrou each staggered through a few months as prime minister, but both fell on the central question that faces all governments: how the state should raise and spend its money.
Bayrou, a 74-year-old centrist, made a totem out of the question of French debt – which now stands at more than €3 trillion, or around 114% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He wanted to stabilise repayments by cutting €44 billion from the 2026 budget.
Bayrou was brought down when the left and far-right MPs united in a vote of confidence last week, but polls showed that many voters were also hostile to the prime minister's ideas, such as abolishing two national holidays to pay for more defence.
BERTRAND GUAY/AFP via Getty Images
François Bayrou was ousted when left and far-right MPs united in a vote of confidence last week
Emmanuel Macron's immediate recourse has been to entrust a member of his inner circle to pioneer a new approach.
Sébastien Lecornu, the 39- year-old named as prime minister last week, is a quietly-spoken Norman who became a presidential confidant over late-night sessions of whisky-and-chat at the Elysée.
Following the appointment, Macron said he was convinced "an agreement between the political forces is possible while respecting the convictions of each."
Macron is said to appreciate Lecornu's loyalty, and a sense that his prime minister is not obsessed with his own political future.
After tensions with his two predecessors – the veterans Michel Barnier and François Bayrou – today the president and prime minister see eye-to-eye.
"With Lecornu, it basically means that Macron is prime minister," argues Philippe Aghion, an economist who has advised the president and knows him well.
"Macron and Lecornu are essentially one."
Lecornu's Herculean task
Macron wants Lecornu to carry out a shift. From leaning mainly towards the political right, Macron now wants a deal with the left – specifically the Socialist Party (PS).
By law, Lecornu needs to have tabled a budget by mid-October. This must then be passed by year-end.
Arithmetically the only way he can do that is if his centrist bloc is joined by "moderates" to its right and left – in other words the conservative Republicans (LR) and the Socialists (PS).
LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images
'Macron and Lecornu are essentially one,' argues one economist
But the problem is this: every concession to one side makes it only more likely that the other side will walk out.
For example, the Socialists – who feel the wind in their sails – are demanding a much lower target for debt reduction. They want a tax on ultra-rich entrepreneurs; and an abrogation of Macron's pension reform of 2023 (which raised the retirement age to 64).
But these ideas are anathema to pro-business Republicans, who have threatened to vote against any budget that includes them.
The main employers' union MEDEF (Mouvement des Entreprises de France) has even said it will stage its own "mass demonstrations" if Lecornu's answer to the budget impasse is to raise more taxes.
BENOIT TESSIER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Macron is said to value Lecornu's loyalty and sense that he is not focused on his own political future
Making the situation even more intractable is the timing: the pending departure of Macron makes it all the more unlikely that either side will make concessions. There are important municipal elections in March, and then the presidential elections in May 2027.
At either end of the political checkerboard are powerful parties – the National Rally (RN) on the right, France Unbowed (LFI) on the left – who will be shouting "treason" at the slightest sign of compromise with the centre.
And for any politician of note, there may well be an instinct to limit to the absolute minimum any contact with the fast-eroding asset that is Emmanuel Macron.
Ore Huiying/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Sébastien Lecornu was announced as prime minister last week - Macron is said to appreciate his loyalty
So Lecornu's task is Herculean. At best, he might just cobble together a deal and ward off immediate defeat in the Assembly. But such a budget would necessarily be truncated. The signal to the markets would be more French fudge. The cost of servicing debt would rise further.
The alternative is failure, and the resignation of yet another PM.
That way is Macron's doomsday scenario: another dissolution leading to more elections which Marine Le Pen's National Rally might win this time.
Or even – as some are demanding – the resignation of Macron himself for his role in presiding over the impasse.
The conjuncture of several crises
Studying France, it is always possible to strike a less "catastrophist" note. After all, the country has been through crises in the past and always muddled through and some see things to admire in Macron's France.
For the former LR president Jean-Francois Copé, "the fundamentals of the French economy, including its balance of imports and exports, remain solid.
"Our level of unemployment is traditionally higher than the UK's but nothing disastrous. We have a high level of business creation, and better growth than in Germany."
Aghion, the former Macron adviser, is also relatively sanguine. "We are not about to go under, Greece-style," he says. "And what Bayrou said about debt was an effective wake-up call."
But to others the shifting state of world affairs makes such remarks feel overly optimistic, if not complacent.
Eric COLOMER/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Former LR president Jean-François Copé says, 'the fundamentals of the French economy... remain solid'
According to economist Philippe Dessertine, director of the Institute of High Finance in Paris, "we can't just wave away the hypothesis of IMF intervention, the way the politicians do.
"It is like we are on a dyke. It seems solid enough. Everyone is standing on it, and they keep telling us it's solid. But underneath the sea is eating away, until one day it all suddenly collapses.
"Sadly, that is what will happen if we continue to do nothing."
According to Françoise Fressoz of Le Monde newspaper, "We have all become totally addicted to public spending. It's been the method used by every government for half a century – of left and right – to put out the fires of discontent and buy social peace.
"Everyone can sense now that this system has run its course. We're at the end of the old welfare state. But no one wants to pay the price or face up to the reforms which need to be made."
Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Emmanuel Macron came to power in 2017, promising to bridge the gap between left and right
What is happening in France now is the conjuncture of several crises at once: political, economic, and social – and that is what makes the moment feel so significant.
In the words of pollster Jerome Fourquet last week, "It is like an incomprehensible play being acted out in front of an empty theatre."
Voters are told that debt is a matter of national life or death, but many either don't believe it, or can't see why they should be the ones to pay.
Presiding over it all is a man who came to power in 2017 vested with hope, and promising to bridge the gap between left and right, business and labour, growth and social justice, Euro-sceptics and Euro-enthusiasts.
Following this latest debacle, forthright French commentator Nicolas Baverez drew a devastating conclusion in Le Figaro: "Emmanuel Macron is the real target of the people's defiance, and he bears entire responsibility for this shipwreck.
"Like all demagogues, he has transformed our country into a field of ruins."
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