Duncan remembered: “The challenge was to persuade the president that this is a visit of state dignity, not of political comment.”
He said that last time a “great weapon” had been to say, “Oh, please don’t do that, it would upset the queen.”
The powerful aura of the royal family, Duncan said, ensured Trump “behaved faultlessly.” Though now of course Trump’s opposite number is the king, who Duncan predicts “will handle it brilliantly.”
The former Conservative minister told the podcast that it’s when Trump is most enamored with the royal family that those in government have the best chance of making a breakthrough on political matters. “The hope would be that Trump is enjoying basking in the beauty of it all, and that perhaps you can just say, ‘Thank you so much for coming, Mr. President, and oh, you’ve been absolutely fantastic, by the way, can you…?’”
But, he advised, keep the demands simple: “Don’t over-ram it. Just see if you can bank something you want to.”
Get Trump one-on-one
Gavin Barwell was May’s chief of staff during Trump’s previous state visit in 2019.