Opinion
Trump’s dinner: why the First Minister should have gone
Desmond Clifford
When the King entertained President Trump to dinner at Windsor castle the other night, the seat marked “First Minister, Wales” was empty, or had at least been passed on to someone else.
First Minister Eluned Morgan declined her invitation to attend. She cited a sensitive prior engagement, which I take at face value. She confused the issue somewhat, though, by adding further comments in an interview noting she has areas of strong disagreement with the President, implying that she wouldn’t have gone in any case. She ought to clear this up.
A First Minister should always have the courage of their convictions. If her position is that she genuinely couldn’t go for the reason she stated, but that she would have gone if she could, then she should say so. If her position is that she would not have gone in any case because of her strong policy differences with President Trump on Gaza and other issues, then she should make that clear too.
Leaving the Welsh public to guess about the First Minister’s motives does her no credit. For completeness, opposition leader Darren Millar says she should have gone while Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth says he wouldn’t have gone either.
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Activists
If she had attended, the First Minister would have had some criticism from her activists. There’s the first problem. The Welsh Government is too bothered with impressing its activists rather than the wider Welsh public. The relative lack of electoral competition up till now has encouraged this political parochialism. Declining support for Labour is, in part, a reaction to a party which talks to itself more than to Wales as a whole.
Anti-Trump rhetoric is hardly a radical position in Welsh politics. Few people like him. Opinion polling shows Tories don’t like him much more than Labour. Max Hastings, no one’s idea of an agitprop leftie, marched against him in London last week. Even one third of Reform voters say they don’t much care for the president. His hectoring, humourless braggadocio just doesn’t translate very well into Welsh or British political culture.
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Downton-Disneyland
President Trump clearly loves the Downton-Disneyland version of Britain presented to him at Windsor. He seems genuinely to like Starmer (who, in fairness, is proving quite good at foreign affairs) and just wishes that nice Sir Keir wasn’t so wrecked by all that European social democracy weirdness. Trump would explode if he spent a day at the Senedd. Mark Drakeford and Mick Antoniw make Bernie Sanders look like John Redwood; Jane Hutt makes Hilary Clinton look like Teresa May.
Snubbing Trump is, I should think, a popular cause in Wales. Around half the population (UK-wide) thought he shouldn’t have been invited in the first place. Neither Eluned Morgan nor Rhun ap Iorwerth will lose votes over their Trump position, and Darren Millar won’t gain any.
But I still think that the First Minister should have attended the dinner if it was humanly possible to do so. Her position was very different from Ed Davey’s, for example. Davey was invited because he’s a party leader. He got good publicity for declining his invitation on the grounds of his objections to Trump’s policy on Gaza and Ukraine. Fair enough. Eluned Morgan was not invited because she heads a political party but because she’s the First Minister, the leader of this nation. Her job, literally, is to represent Wales to the world.
John Swinney
Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney did attend. Unsurprisingly, he faced some criticism within the SNP but said it was “in Scotland’s interests” for him to attend: “I don’t think people in Scotland would understand their first minister leaving Scotland’s seat empty, when there are big issues that affect the jobs and the livelihoods of people in Scotland.” He went on to repeat his position on Gaza and his opposition to Trump’s approach.
This feels to me like devolution politics for grown-ups, and a mark of the contrasting levels of political maturity between Scotland and Wales. Swinney believes, rightly in my view, that Scotland needs to be visible and present. He was recently in the White House, meeting the President and others to discuss Scottish whiskey exports. Wales equally has export issues in America – our largest single country market - and we’re crying out for investment in AI and tech industries.
No First Minister is going to promote Wales from behind a desk in Cardiff. Also at the dinner in Windsor were Open Ai’s Sam Altman, Apple boss Tim Cook and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang. These are among the most powerful businesspeople on the planet. Apple is the most profitable company in the history of business. Altman and Huang control the future of the AI industry which is about to transform life on Earth.
Just the other week the Welsh Government announced the establishment of a “Strategic AI Advisory Group”. At Windsor Castle you had – within reach of a First Minister’s handshake and the exchange of a business card – the world’s most powerful investors. No amount of money can buy you an introduction to these people. Only a First Minister can do this, and only when the rare chance presents itself.
A group
The Welsh Government sets up a group – there’s always a group – to convince itself it’s doing something about AI. Meanwhile, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, in Windsor, said the UK is well placed to become an “AI superpower”. Microsoft announced a £22bn investment for the UK, its biggest ever outside America – that’s the entire Welsh Government budget for a year. But who was in the room selling Wales? The north-east of England has been designated an “AI growth zone”, with potential for 5,000 jobs. Lucky them, and I wish them success. Wales, meanwhile?
The Welsh Government won’t criticise the UK Government when it damages Welsh interests, and yet is unwilling to walk through the door when it’s invited to meet influential investors. It could make you weep.
I get that the politics of Trump isn’t easy but the first priority for the Welsh Government is the prosperity and well-being of this nation. If that involves compromise, occasionally doing things you’d rather not do, sobeit. The activists may cheer to the rafters in the church hall on a Friday night for boycotting Trump, but does it honestly advance the national interest? The jobs not pitched for, the investment for Wrexham or Llanelli or Pontypool unsolicited?
Is it any wonder voters are looking elsewhere?
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