Trump is terrible, but this state visit is worth every penny of £15m

It is nearly impossible to calculate how much Donald Trump’s state visit will cost – but of course that hasn’t stopped some people from having a go.
A lot of the pageantry is already bought and paid for. The Red Arrows, the Guards Division and King Charles and Queen Camilla are available virtually 24/7, and can be rolled out whenever. But even so, everyone and everything has to stop what they normally do and pay homage to Trump, and that costs money.

When Don the Con last graced us with his presence, in 2019, the Metropolitan Police deployed 6,300 officers to protect him and hold back small groups of adoring fans and the far larger groups of angry protestors. That cost Greater London’s police force £3.5 million alone. But the cost of deploying officers from around the country to fill the gaps will have increased the spend massively.

According to Forbes magazine, Trump 2019 cost the country £14 million all told, including £100k alone on entertainment at a state banquet in his honour. That may look like a bargain compared to this time.
This will be the largest security operation on UK soil since Charles’s coronation. Drones and helicopters will protect the skies above Windsor Castle, and armed police will patrol the surrounding area – something to watch for if you are an uninvited prince eager to nip out for a pizza. Forbes says experts in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons will also be on hand – and of course, Trump will be bringing his own security too, on heightened alert since the assassination of his political ally Charlie Kirk.
Let’s say then that Trump 2025 will cost a minimum £15million. Set against the £11.7million it costs to police the Notting Hill Carnival each year – enjoyed by at least 1 million people in 2025 – it seems rather a lot to pay to satisfy the ego of one very vain and offensive man. Especially one who is likely to embarrass his hosts by sharing his far right views on free speech, migrants, Sadiq Khan and whatever else enters his big orange head.

But unfortunately, it is worth it.
Trump may not be the nicest person we have honoured with a state visit but he also isn’t the worst. The late Queen had to smile and be nice to some complete shits and murderous thugs when the government asked her to, in order to obtain some diplomatic or economic advantage. Ceaușescu from communist Romania, Robert Mugabe and even Vladimir Putin all walked down the red carpet and had a photo-op with Elizabeth II – no wonder she wore gloves at these events.

Now it is Charles III’s turn to pretend he is enjoying it. It is, I am afraid, part of the job – like pretending to laugh and dance in your seat at the Royal Variety Performance.

If there is a moment that he or Keir Starmer struggles with the boasting, with the not-very-covert racism, with the rambling, they should just smile wanly and think of the money.

A raft of announcements will greet Trump’s arrival – there always are on these occasions – and these will mean new investment, new trade alliances and hopefully new lower tariffs. The total package is said to add up to nearly £7.5 billion, and could go higher.

Since Starmer has been so successful at flattering Trump, the UK has already got away with lower tariffs than most – just 10% in general but 25% on steel.

So, trade will be top of the UK’s wish list and Starmer will doubtless be asking Trump for an even better deal – not just lower tariffs but also higher quotas, so for instance, Britain’s luxury car makers can sell more cars in America before tariffs are imposed.

Then there will be investment announcements – investment that may have been planned for years, has already happened or is possibly just a vague wish list of dodgy promises. But it will look and sound good when Trump and Starmer can announce Blackrock is going to spend £500 million, and Alphabet £5 billion on AI in the UK.

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Then there are broader themes, talks on non-tariff barriers, digital trade, defence tech agreements to keep China at bay and a deal on civilian nuclear power.

Trump likes to agree deals on the spot and then have his people do the detailed stuff afterwards, so it is not inconceivable that something extra could happen once he is with the prime minister one-to-one.

Of course, the idea that all the investment, negotiations and agreements will be directly “caused” by Trump’s visit is a joke. This is just the stage upon which a lot of hard background work already done by so-called government “Sherpas” is to be announced.

The visit may oil the wheels a little and make it slightly more likely America will invest in the UK rather than say, Germany. At a time when the UK economy is on the floor, that has to be good news.

It might be satisfying to do what Mark Carney has done in Canada and tell the world what you really think of Trump. But it is going to be costly. If you want a good deal from this president, you have to flatter him personally, not point out that his tariffs are stupid and that he talks drivel, even though these things are true.
Luckily, putting on a false smile for unwelcome visitors is something that Britain is still good at. It is what we pay the Royal family for, why we maintain so many castles, and still have such nice bearskin hats and red coats for our troops.

He’ll be gone soon, and he’ll be leaving plenty of money with us when he goes. So deep breaths and stiff upper lips are the order of the day. Nod and grin and think of Britain.