Sir Simon McDonald, Lord McDonald of Salford, the former permanent secretary at the British Foreign Office 2015-2020, wrote an hysterical column in today’s The Guardian, calling to use flattery to dupe Trump into agreeing on security guarantees for Ukraine. Lord McDonald writes that to do this effectively, individual European leaders must be silenced at the today’s White House meeting with President Donald Trump and one-time elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
McDonald argues that only British Prime Minister Keir Starmer or NATO’s Secretary General Mark Rutte should be trusted to speak on behalf of Europe at the event. Joining this meeting will be leaders from the U.K., Germany, Finland, Italy, France, as well as NATO and the EU, but they must select a single speaker, according to McDonald. Lord McDonald wrote that before international meetings, world leaders prepare statements and policy initiatives, but “I urge them to discard the traditional approach.” McDonald trusts that several other leaders could represent the geopolitical viewpoint, but writes that “Trump’s quirkiness” could destabilize them and what is needed is a speaker who will “look Trump in the eye” and stay on course.
