Starmer, Trump, tariffs & the importance of golf diplomacy
The Prime Minister of Finland Alexander Stubb played golf with Trump at Mar A Lago recently. Stubb almost became a professional golfer before descending into politics. He suggested after the game that golf diplomacy was a useful way to interact with Trump
The Telegraph reported in the autumn of 2024 that Keir Starmer had turned down free membership of the golf course associated with Chequers the Prime Minister’s official country residence.
Keir Starmer grappling with how to deflect Trump’s trade tariffs has, so far, a bad record on golf diplomacy.
Ellesborough Golf Club has offered free membership to every PM since 1921 after Chequers became an official residence in 1917 and Starmer has been the first to turn it down. Attlee, Wilson and Blair all played on the golf course.
Starmer of course is an Arsenal season ticket holder and may not be interested in golf. Whether he is aware of the class war that perpetually goes on around the golf course is not clear.
The late miners leader Mick McGahey described golf as a waste of time. At his election victory party in November 2024 Trump had as the guest of honour Bryson DeChambeau. He is a championship winning golfer, aside from being extremely annoying, which no doubt endears him to Trump.
The class divide is clear from a historical perspective too. Eric Hobsbawm noted in Labouring Men that in the late nineteenth century as the male working class was identifying itself by wearing a cap, the middle class turned to golf courses. Twenty-nine golf courses were laid out in Yorkshire between 1890-95. Before 1890 there had been just two.
Starmer needs to brush up on his golf and try a game with Trump at Mar A Lago
Leave a Reply