Inside the White House Correspondents' Dinner where shots were fired — BBC News

[0:06] Those are shots being fired at a hotel where the president and 2,000 guests, including most of the US cabinet, were at last night. [0:15] There was a dinner, the White House Correspondents Dinner, which is an enormous social event in Washington, D.C. every year. [0:21] They'd just finished their salad starter when at about half past eight those shots rang out. [0:27] A gunman was stopped by the American Secret Service. [0:33] One agent was shot at close range but was saved by his bulletproof vest. [0:38] The suspect is also now in hospital, but we understand he doesn't have life-threatening injuries. [0:43] We don't know anything about his motivation. [0:46] We don't know what he was trying to achieve or even who he was trying to target. [0:51] But this appears to have been the third assassination attempt at President Donald Trump. [0:55] We will talk to the former UK ambassador to the United States who has been to this event. [1:01] And he will give us his view about what this means for the upcoming state visit by King Charles on Sunday's newscast. [1:08] Hello, it's Laura in the studio. [1:09] Hello, it's Paddy in the studio. [1:11] And here we are again. [1:12] It's one of these weekends where overnight dramatic events in America suddenly shape not just the news agenda in America, [1:19] but suddenly shape the news agenda right around the world. [1:22] So what we know so far is not a huge amount, and we'll get into the details of some of that. [1:28] But let's just bring you some of the moments from last night. [1:33] The president was bundled away. [1:35] His cabinet colleagues were bundled away. [1:37] Secret Service then grabbed the attacker, wrestled him to the ground. [1:42] As soon as he was back at the White House, Donald Trump did what Donald Trump does. [1:48] He went on TV. [1:49] It's always shocking when something like this happens, happened to me a little bit, and that never changes. [1:57] The fact, we were sitting right next to each other, the first lady on my right, [2:02] and I heard a noise and sort of thought it was a tray. [2:06] I thought it was a tray going down. [2:09] I've heard that many times, and it was pretty loud noise. [2:12] And it was from quite far away. [2:14] He hadn't breached the area at all. [2:17] They really got him. [2:18] But, so it was quite far away, but it was a gun. [2:21] I was watching to see what was happening. [2:23] Probably should have gone down even faster. [2:26] Melania was very cognizant, I think, of what happened. [2:30] I think she knew immediately what happened. [2:32] She was saying, that's a bad noise. [2:35] We wanted to stay tonight. [2:37] I will tell you, I fought like hell to stay. [2:40] But they, it was protocol. [2:44] They said, please, sir. [2:45] And you see Donald Trump at moments like this, always returning to that narrative. [2:49] Do you remember the other assassination attempt when a bullet literally went back, whizzing past his ear? [2:55] He stood up and then said he would fight and fight and fist in the air, standing that, what became such an iconic image. [3:01] And you can see the sort of gear this puts him into there. [3:05] You know, being the American president is a risky job to take in terms of your own personal safety. [3:11] But in terms of his political narrative, he immediately goes into that gear of telling the world something that it means about him. [3:21] That he is someone who would fight for his country. [3:23] He's someone who would never give up and he'll take on any dangers, any risks that are put in his way. [3:28] Because he wants to, you know, guess what? [3:30] Make America great again. [3:32] But I think there are going to be a lot of questions asked, of course, about the security of the dinner and what on earth was going on. [3:37] And how it could have been allowed to happen. [3:41] So world leaders who have been in trouble with this administration have been rushing to sympathize and to say they're delighted that democracy has not been undermined with a successful assassination. [3:54] President has said that he wanted to make a speech which was going to be quite mean to the media, which he now said he didn't think he would want to deliver immediately. [4:03] So he seems to have changed his tone. [4:05] And it's a very polarised country. [4:08] But the Democrats obviously have said this is appalling. [4:10] We're delighted that the president and his family are safe. [4:13] We pay tribute as on the air today. [4:16] We pay tribute to the brave security official, secret service agent who was shot. [4:21] His life's been apparently saved by a bulletproof vest. [4:24] And there's a really interesting moment in the footage. [4:26] And, of course, you know, do look on the website and across TV news today because the images of this event are very compelling. [4:34] And it's, you know, it's one of those moments where in the world we live in now in 2026, everything is out there from multiple different angles on multiple different cameras. [4:41] Because, of course, not just that the room was full of journalists, but also there were loads of cameras there and everybody's got a camera on their phone. [4:47] So you can watch this unfolding in real time from all these different angles. [4:53] But there's one particular moment where just after you hear the shots ring out, the secret service agents run towards the president. [5:01] One of them literally stands right in front of him, putting his body in front of Donald Trump's body. [5:08] And that is what those agents and security people do. [5:10] They are literally, they're not just with their technology and their weapons and their earpieces and all the things that make up a kind of security arrangements. [5:18] But that basic thing of literally putting their body in front of a leader's body. [5:24] And also, we have newscasters who are in the armed forces, in the uniform forces, firefighters, doctors, security officials, police officers, military people. [5:34] And it's a real opportunity to say, we're going to talk about the politics of this, but a person stopped a bullet in the name of democracy. [5:43] That has happened overnight. [5:46] I mean, as you've said, Paddy, these are absolutely enormous events. [5:49] One of the people who has been at these events before, I'm pleased to say, is Lord Kim Darragh, who was Britain's ambassador to the United States at the beginning of the first Trump term. [5:58] And he's with us now, Lord Darragh. [5:59] This just seems incredible that this happened at all. [6:04] You know, the president is meant to be one of the most closely guarded people in the world. [6:07] This is the biggest social event of the year, really, in Washington, the White House Correspondents Dinner. [6:12] It's the most sought after ticket. [6:13] It's held in the Washington Hilton, which has, because it has the biggest ballroom. [6:18] And there are literally two and a half thousand guests there. [6:22] So when you pitch up, normally you have to abandon your car half a mile from the hotel because there's a massive traffic jam of stretch limos. [6:29] And you walk the last bit. [6:30] And all you have to show to get into the hotel is your invitation card. [6:36] And then you get ushered in. [6:38] And the ballroom is down on the basement. [6:40] So you go down the stairs to the sort of basement area. [6:43] And that's where you get a serious security check. [6:45] There's a metal detector arch. [6:48] And then they go through your bag if you have one and that kind of thing. [6:52] And then you're in. [6:52] But it is a hotel, which means there are hundreds of guests there who aren't going to the dinner, but who can get as far as that security point without being stopped because they're not coming in from outside. [7:07] So in that sense, it is quite a, I mean, it seems to me security is not that great there. [7:14] Add to that, you have most of the American administration cabinet are there. [7:21] You've got a chunk of Hollywood pitching up for it usually. [7:24] Trump didn't used to go to it. [7:27] The whole of his first term, he rejected it, refused to go to it because he didn't like the idea of, he said it was the fake media, mainstream media. [7:34] Because the tone is quite jocular. [7:35] They're normally, yeah, what it's, it's what happens is a comedian usually gets off the stage and makes a series of disrespectful jokes about American politicians, notably the president, not just the president usually, but the president is the butt of the humor. [7:48] And then the president is meant to speak at the end and to speak in a self-deprecating way where you make jokes about yourself as well. [7:56] And the ones I went to, the only one I went to where a president came was Obama. [8:01] And he was brilliant at it. [8:02] He's a very, because he's just a very, very accomplished public speaker. [8:06] And he had, they get script writers in from Hollywood for this kind of thing. [8:09] Trump refused to go three remaining years I was there. [8:13] And he refused to go in 2025, the first one of his new term. [8:16] He agreed to go this time, but apparently he set a couple of conditions. [8:20] First of all, there'd be no, no comedian poking fun at him in the earlier part of the evening. [8:26] And second, that he could basically say what he liked. [8:29] And the story I've heard is that he was going to make a speech that was lashing out at the mainstream media for all the fake news they produce. [8:38] While they're sitting there in the audience with their bow ties and ball gowns and dressed to the nines. [8:43] I mean, you could see why he would have loved to have had that opportunity. [8:46] But instead, it ended with this drama, this very serious incident. [8:50] Mercifully, nobody was seriously hurt. [8:52] The alleged suspect is in hospital, but it doesn't appear that he has sustained serious injuries. [8:58] So it could have been an absolute nightmare. [9:01] The BBC's Gary O'Donoghue was in the room and I spoke to him on Radio 4 this morning and he described what happened. [9:08] I was in one of the tables, table 95 in the ballroom. [9:12] There had about two and a half thousand people in it. [9:14] And I guess I was about 40 feet from the stage. [9:17] The stage was behind me and the tables were sort of going laterally across the room. [9:21] And so the president, vice president, etc. and their wives were on that stage, 40 feet behind me. [9:27] And between me and the stage, there was also another table, I think, with some of the cabinet on it. [9:32] And then maybe about double that distance, maybe a little bit more from our table, the direction I was facing were the doors into the ballroom. [9:41] And that's where the sounds came from at about 8.35. [9:45] And I sort of did a double take in an audio sense. [9:48] I sort of heard something. [9:49] Did I just hear what I think? [9:50] What is it I heard? [9:51] And then my brain sort of caught up. [9:54] And I thought, that's that kind of thudding noise that, you know, big, long guns, as they call them in this country, makes indoors, you know. [10:00] And I thought, oh, God. [10:02] And then I heard this sort of crashing of glass as well. [10:05] And I thought, OK, that's not just someone dropping the hors d'oeuvres, you know. [10:09] That sounds a bit more serious than that. [10:11] And I'd been talking to a colleague of mine, Daniel, on my left. [10:14] And I just kind of felt his head brush past my arm. [10:17] I thought, what on earth is he? [10:18] And I thought, he's going under the table. [10:20] So I went straight under the table and knelt under the tablecloth. [10:24] And we kind of, Paddy, we kind of sat there for a bit, kind of waiting to see if, you know, if there was someone in the room who was going to start shooting. [10:33] Because if someone had got in and all those people packed in, two and a half years and packed in, you know, it would have been an absolute killing ground. [10:43] So after about 10 minutes, it became, I mean, there was a lot of people running around with big guns. [10:47] We saw them dragged off the, you know, principals, as they call them, dragged off the stage. [10:52] The director of the FBI was, you know, like us, on the floor, a few tables away, lying on top of his girlfriend, you know. [11:00] And so it was chaos and pandemonium for a bit, although not the kind of screaming there was, you know. [11:06] When I, you know, I remember Butler, Pennsylvania, we've talked about that before in this programme. [11:11] You know, there was a lot of screaming at Butler. [11:14] I didn't notice any screaming, even if there was a lot of panic and sort of quiet panic at this one. [11:18] And then it became clear that the coast was clear and we all got up and, you know, tried to get a phone signal to call our news desks. [11:26] I mean, I remember speaking to you on BH when you were at the attempt on the president's life during the presidential election campaign. [11:38] And on this occasion, you've seen it again. [11:41] And a special, a Secret Service agent has taken a bullet on this occasion. [11:47] And what happened to him? [11:49] Because I know that the ambassador to the United States, the UK ambassadors, also then thanking, especially thanking the Secret Service. [11:59] Yeah, I mean, the room was full of ambassadors, politicians of all parties. [12:04] It seems, and the detail is still a bit sketchy, but it seems that the guy who rushed the security cordon outside the ballroom, [12:12] I mean, you see him running pretty fast. [12:14] And he's got a gun and he, it seems that he got at least one shot away. [12:20] And it seems that may have hit the security, the Secret Service agent, who fortunately was wearing body armour, who is in hospital. [12:28] But the president has said that he's spoken to him and that he's going to be OK. [12:32] We don't know his condition. [12:34] The guy, the shooter, the gunman, he was taken down by the Secret Service. [12:39] So you see him on the, flying on the floor with no shirt on. [12:43] So they've taken him down and obviously, you know, stripped him, basically, his top. [12:47] He is always also being assessed in hospital. [12:49] And they have laid charges already against him. [12:51] And he's been named as well. [12:53] But why he was doing what he was doing is still very sketchy. [12:58] There's some reports that, you know, he has said that he had Trump administration officials in his target sites. [13:04] The extraordinary thing is, given all this security around this event, how he managed to get that close. [13:11] He was a guest at the hotel. [13:12] There were still guests at the hotel, despite the security. [13:15] And he managed to get that close with a long gun, a handgun and a bunch of knives. [13:20] You know, beggars belief, really. [13:22] Cole Thomas Allen, he's 31, from Torrance, California. [13:26] And there's police at an address near that neighbourhood. [13:31] But also, listeners will remember, in 1981, there was an attempt on the life of Ronald Reagan. [13:36] And he was actually shot. [13:39] He took a bullet. [13:40] And, Gary, is that at the same hotel? [13:44] It's precisely the same hotel. [13:47] It is the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D.C. [13:51] It's, you know, it's developing a bit of a reputation for itself that it will not enjoy. [13:57] The president was shot outside that, outside the Hilton, on his way back from an event. [14:02] And obviously, this took place inside. [14:04] But, yeah, it's the same. [14:05] It's the very same hotel. [14:07] But, Kim, how do you think this will kind of change the backdrop of what's going on in America? [14:11] You know, the king's heading there, we think, later tonight. [14:14] The relationship between our two countries has been so sort of troubled and fractious of late. [14:19] And then add this into the mix. [14:21] In terms of America domestically, I mean, it is a bitterly divided country. [14:27] And the rhetoric, as you'll have spotted, between the two sides, I mean, from Trump's White House, but not just from them, is pretty violent at times. [14:38] And the gun laws are pathetic. [14:41] So far too many people have weapons. [14:44] And they have all sorts of weapons. [14:45] They have semi-automatic things that are close to machine guns. [14:48] So these are the ingredients that produce this kind of story. [14:54] I think that security for the king's visit would have been meticulously planned. [15:00] Maybe they'll go and have another look at it now in the light of yesterday evening's events. [15:05] But it's always a very big concern. [15:08] But for the rest of Trump's term, I mean, this is the third assassination attempt on him. [15:12] So he'll be even more closely protected than before. [15:16] Can I ask what this does to the king's state visit? [15:20] Because there were lots of noises off saying, don't go, don't go. [15:24] Keir Starmer's put him in a difficult position. [15:26] But is there a counter-argument that actually the king arrives, he can stand up genuinely, his own uncle having been assassinated, [15:34] and say, I'm with the president, his family, and I pay respects to the security agent who's been shot. [15:41] Do you think this could change the tone of the visit? [15:44] I think that's exactly right. [15:45] I think, anyway, Trump very much wants the visit to be a success. [15:51] I think the king will probably feel that he can make a difference by going. [15:55] He'll think it's quite a difficult assignment because the president is so unpredictable. [15:59] He'll think he'll make a difference. [16:00] And if, and he's a very good diplomat, the king can inject something of what you described [16:08] into, say, the two big speeches he's giving, one at the White House banquet and one in front of both houses of Congress, [16:14] that will make even more of an impact. [16:16] And I think will, I mean, it's an unlikely piece of bonding, King Charles and Donald Trump, [16:22] but Trump really does seem to respect him and to like him. [16:26] So maybe that bond can get a bit closer. [16:28] It was interesting. [16:29] One of the things you said to us on TV this morning, because we were lucky to have you on the show with us as well, [16:34] is you painted a picture actually of how close the foreign office and the palace are when it comes to planning these kinds of things, [16:40] but also having little chats about the kind of conversations that could be had. [16:45] And I'm not sure from the outside if, you know, everybody necessarily understands how much our monarchs and our royals are kind of doing a job on behalf of the government in a soft way. [17:00] You know, nobody says that they are a minister. [17:02] They're obviously not elected, but they are doing the government's bidding, aren't they? [17:05] Yes, to an extent, to an extent. [17:06] I mean, within the sort of constitutional constraints of this. [17:09] But I remember the late Queen was famous for reading a batch of foreign office telegrams, [17:17] which the foreign office guy in her private staff had selected for her every morning. [17:23] Every morning she would go through them. [17:25] She was extremely well informed of what was going on, especially in the Commonwealth, but basically in the world as a whole. [17:30] I remember having the audiences you get as an ambassador before you go out to post, [17:35] and no thinking how well informed she was of what was going on in the world. [17:38] And, you know, those two speeches I talked about during the visit, the king's two speeches, [17:44] those would have been poured over by many, many pens within the foreign office and the palace. [17:49] So let's be no doubt the king himself will have final cut on it, will have his own bits. [17:53] You know, he likes to draft some of his own bits of his speeches. [17:58] And if you were drafting the speech, what would you have thought to put in with your pen? [18:01] I think you want to, I mean, you can't, you don't want to get into the current sort of issues and clashes and there's any detail on them. [18:12] I think you talk about the strength of the UK-US relationship, about the history of it. [18:20] And I don't just dwell on, you know, the Second World War, all that, of course, that was very important, [18:25] but all the things we've done together since. [18:27] I would put in a passage which would be deliberate, but I hope it wouldn't cause the president to take offence, [18:35] about just how much we are actually doing in the Gulf. [18:38] Because we have around 1,000 military personnel there. [18:42] We have got typhoons and F-35s flying, knocking out Iranian drones and missiles. [18:50] We have ground stations, which are air defence stations, which are doing the same thing. [18:55] We're actually doing quite a lot to protect, particularly Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and the UAE and Oman. [19:02] And it would be quite a good platform to get those points across when there's a bit of criticism coming that we are, we're not there for them. [19:09] We had Jonathan Dimbleby on Radio 4 this morning, the King's friend and biographer, [19:14] who said that there are a lot of risks, and we've been talking about the rewards of this visit. [19:20] But would you be aware that there are risks? [19:23] Because whenever Donald Trump's on a microphone, he could triangulate and say, [19:28] I'm not sure about Keir Starmer, but we've got the king, he's a great king. [19:32] Could he try and embarrass the prime minister with the king in the room? [19:36] Honestly, I think because he wants the visit to be accepted. [19:38] He wants to embarrass the king. [19:40] But as you say, he sometimes says into a microphone, the first thing that comes into his head. [19:45] And I think that, indeed I hear that, that the briefing folder for this visit for the king will be even thicker than usual. [19:53] But also that there have been intensive contacts across channel, some through the British Embassy in Washington, [20:00] some direct, no doubt, number 10 to the White House or whatever, [20:04] about things that we need to try and avoid that would throw the visit off track. [20:09] So I think the prince, the king will be very well prepared for the odd, unexpected pronouncement from the other side of the table. [20:17] But also we've done our best, I think, as a government to warn against things happening that will put the king in an awkward position. [20:23] And I just recall that Trump saying that one of the things that Starmer did that set them off on a good path at the beginning [20:31] was he was one of very few leaders to telephone Trump after that assassination attempt when the bullet went whizzing past his ear. [20:39] And Trump really appreciated that. [20:42] So that kind of thing matters to Donald Trump. [20:45] And the amazing thing is about the United States, a country which I think you greatly admire and love, [20:51] that this hotel, Washington Hilton, is where Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. [20:57] And he was a man who had a winsome style. [21:00] And he said to the doctors on the table as he was about to go under the knife, [21:04] I hope you're all Republicans. [21:07] So there was, you know, in history, there was an attempt by Reagan to own what had happened. [21:13] Yeah. I mean, if I were the owner of the Washington Hilton, [21:17] I would think maybe the days of the White House correspondents being held there are numbered [21:22] because it's just being a hotel means it is more vulnerable. [21:26] And I see the president has already said this yet again makes the case for the magnificent ballroom [21:32] I'm building at the White House. [21:34] Exactly. Within minutes. [21:36] Within minutes. [21:37] Within minutes. [21:37] He's like, ah, how can I use this? [21:38] For the newscaster who thinks Donald Trump is being always attacked in Europe, [21:43] actually, if I was a supporter of the president, I'd say, he's right. [21:48] If he have a perimeter at the White House, then you are not going to have a shooter. [21:53] No. [21:54] No. [21:55] You wouldn't have a load of people who had nothing to do with the event wandering around in the building. [22:00] I should ask you, because, I mean, you know, you've been here, the whole Mandelson event, [22:04] you know, and you've been in, you've lived that life. [22:07] What was your candid view when you read all that stuff about the ambassador? [22:11] First of all, I'm on record, so you could track back, I guess in interviews, that actually [22:20] I thought he was quite a clever choice for the job because of his trade experience, because [22:24] of his political skills, because of his profile, because of the unneutral nature of this American [22:29] president, maybe it was time to send a politician there. [22:32] And if you look at the first six months of his ambassadorship, we got a trade deal, which [22:38] with a 10% tariff, looked like the best trade deal anyone had got. [22:42] And we got for that state visit, which went very well, Trump's state visit here, we got [22:47] the, it's not actually been finally signed, but we got the high technology agreement, which [22:53] is also potentially a tech partnership, which is also quite a good thing. [22:56] And then the whole Epstein thing exploded. [22:58] It now looks like, and obviously is, was a terrible mistake to have, to have appointed [23:04] him. [23:05] But, you know, I'm one of those who at the time thought it was quite a clever move. [23:09] So many people are silent about that, aren't they? [23:11] I was one of those people who said it was a good idea. [23:13] They've all gone away now, except for Lord Jim, Lord Darrocks, one of the few to remember. [23:18] Mistakes, you know, but, but I mean, I work, I mean, Peter Madison was the trade commissioner [23:23] when I was in Brussels, the EU ambassador, so I saw quite a lot of him there. [23:27] And he is, he has, he has, he has rich consummate political talents, but also some, some flaws. [23:36] As Keir Starmer is finding on a daily basis, and there'll be more of that this week, [23:40] there'll be more testimony from Philip Barton, who, of course, was the boss of the Foreign [23:44] Office, the Civil Service, and, and Morgan McSweeney will both be in front of MPs on Tuesday. [23:50] Just finally to you. [23:51] Just one point on that, Lord. [23:52] So, yes, and I mean, it's impressive in the way that the British system requires this [23:58] all to be analysed in such detail on this Parliamentary Committee, and that's British [24:01] democracy at work. [24:03] One thing that does strike me, though, is that there are congressional committees that have [24:07] asked for, for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to appear and asked for Lord Mandelson to appear, [24:12] but they seem very shy of asking some of the many prominent wealthy Americans who were, [24:17] who are implicated in the whole Epstein file to appear. [24:21] So, you know, I think it's time that, that they looked at some of their own candidates [24:26] for this kind of investigation. [24:28] And we will see anybody in particular you're thinking of? [24:31] Well, not to name names, but there are some, there are some very prominent people who are, [24:34] who are in those files, Americans. [24:36] Very interesting indeed. [24:38] Should Ollie Robbins have been signed? [24:39] No, in my view. [24:42] I mean, I think he was, it was a compelling performance in front of the Select Committee. [24:46] I think he did the civil service proud. [24:49] And, you know, once he explains all of the, some of them sounding quite eccentric, [24:54] constraints and rules around this, he did nothing wrong. [24:58] Eccentricities in the British system, that'll never catch on. [25:03] Lord Derek, thanks so much indeed for coming and speaking to us on Sunday's Newscast. [25:06] It's fascinating to imagine what the mood music of that visit is going to be like. [25:13] And, of course, we'll cover it across all BBC outlets in the coming days. [25:16] Well, you've done those. [25:17] You've been. [25:17] I have done those visits. [25:18] Yeah, I've done those visits or, you know, or visits with Trump coming here or Trump going there. [25:22] And actually we did just for fun. [25:24] We dug out a very rude question that was asked of President Trump by some terrible, young, rude reporter. [25:30] I remember that he goes, why are you giving me this woman? [25:33] He says, that's your question. [25:34] That's a Theresa May. [25:36] Anyway, and then he said, there goes that relationship. [25:38] But I was asking him about NATO, among other things. [25:42] Anyway, but yeah, happy, happy memories of White House press conferences. [25:47] What's your view about the visit? [25:48] I mean, I suppose it's bigger. [25:51] I think it is both an enormous opportunity to try and mollify Trump, who is using every time he's asked a question, [26:02] happily taking a pop at Keir Starmer, which is obviously nerve wracking and unhelpful for this government, [26:09] just because it's disruptive, not because actually politically it's necessarily damaging that Trump doesn't like Starmer. [26:16] It could actually, as we were saying yesterday, it could actually work the other way, but it's just disruptive. [26:20] So it's a huge opportunity to potentially just calm everything down a bit between the US and the UK. [26:29] It's been very, very, very choppy in the last month or so, but it's also hugely, hugely risky. [26:38] You know what happens if Trump just decides to say, or what happens if somebody from a British news outlet, unsympathetic to the government, [26:48] chucks Trump a question about how much he doesn't like Keir Starmer at the moment while the King's standing next to him? [26:55] I mean, that could just be the most jaw-clenchingly awkward moment for the royal family. [27:02] Now, Lord Kim, Lord Darragh was saying to us, he doesn't think that Trump will want to do anything like that. [27:08] But he's just an absolute rollercoaster, isn't he? [27:11] And we're all living on his rollercoaster. [27:12] The government's living on his rollercoaster. [27:14] It makes them feel a bit sick, but they can't get off it because he's in the White House. [27:17] And every raised eyebrow, every tiny remark, every single second of this visit is going to be poured over and analysed to death by pundits on both sides of the Atlantic, without doubt. [27:30] So it's hugely risky, too. [27:33] It really, really is. [27:35] And I just wonder if I think if I work for the Foreign Office, I'd say, you can have all the pictures you like. [27:39] No microphones, chaps. [27:42] Yes, you said that at the Newcast Festival. [27:45] Oh, how boring of me to say it twice in the same weekend. [27:47] No, no, I mean, you know, it's like, I mean, if people are listening. [27:51] Oh, yeah, no, as a journalist, I'm desperate. [27:54] There are microphones everywhere because I'd love to, you know, we will all want to try to interpret what's happened. [28:00] But of course, they'll have private conversations, too, right? [28:02] And if there's going to be a candid and frank and maybe difficult or honest conversation, that's going to happen in private. [28:09] Are there gifts at these things? [28:11] Often, yes. [28:13] Yeah. [28:14] I mean, what do you... [28:16] Would you give the man who has everything? [28:17] Oh, yeah, I was going to say that, that I was just looking at you as I said it, and I was thinking that you're a man who has everything. [28:25] I am. [28:26] What would I give? [28:27] There was something that Kim Dowick said. [28:30] We didn't deliberately not bring it to you, but just as he was sitting down, he made the point that we in Britain consume these soundbites of the president being rude about the prime minister, and it's very important. [28:41] But he said that in the life of the president, he doesn't say this all the time. [28:44] Yes. [28:45] It's just that he's asked the question. [28:47] He's a guy who's very from the hip. [28:51] So he says these things, but it implies to us he's thinking this all the time. [28:54] And Kim Duck says he's not thinking this all the time. [28:56] And it implies also that he's saying it deliberately all the time, unprompted rather than in response to a question, which is always an important thing, actually, to understand. [29:05] When is a politician offering something without prompting? [29:09] When are they telling you something that they want you to know? [29:11] And when are they responding to a question? [29:13] Because the two are not the same, you know, and very often you can tell when they are telling you something they want because it's scripted to goodness and it's all tightly choreographed. [29:23] And it sometimes includes words like delivery and stakeholders. [29:26] And you think, what on earth are they talking about? [29:27] That's their scripted line. [29:30] But there is a difference between politicians saying things because they're asked questions about them or what they write themselves and what they decide they want to get across. [29:39] The editor is desperate for this edition to end. [29:41] But I'm just not the only one, probably. [29:43] But I'm just thinking there's a Scottish side to this. [29:46] Yes. [29:46] Donald Trump's mother. [29:48] Yes. [29:49] And he's always saying how much he loves the fact that his mother was from the Hebrides and that's why, you know, the UK is so special to him. [29:56] That's why he has all his beautiful golf courses in Scotland, which aren't always very popular with the locals. [30:01] We should remember that, too. [30:02] But, yeah, I mean, there are genuine connections there and people who have met and worked with Donald Trump said, look, this is genuine. [30:08] This is not a shtick because he's trying to kind of. [30:11] So I'm going to make one of my predictions. [30:13] What's that? [30:14] Which is that the king. [30:15] Yes. [30:16] Will reference or give or do something to do with your homeland? [30:22] Possibly. [30:23] That's my prediction. [30:24] And I'll be here next week when I'm proved wrong. [30:26] Well, we'll see, won't we? [30:27] I wonder if Donald Trump will give the king a set of golf clubs or something or a Trump Turnberry mug or something. [30:34] I don't know. [30:35] Does the king play golf? [30:36] Do we know that? [30:37] Great question. [30:38] I don't know. [30:39] Doesn't strike me as a golfer. [30:40] Too busy gardening. [30:41] How do golfers come over to you? [30:42] Not like the king. [30:44] But I don't know. [30:44] I mean, the royals are riders, aren't they? [30:46] That's there. [30:47] And polo, of course. [30:47] Of course. [30:48] Polo or golf. [30:50] One thing that I will just mention briefly, because I think the news might get picked up, [30:55] because we've been concentrating very much on America and the king's visit on today's episode. [31:00] But in response to a question, rather than something he said unprompted, Darren Jones, [31:05] who's a very senior cabinet minister, said to us this morning, well, lots of different things, [31:13] but in terms of the impact of the war in the Middle East on us here at home, I asked him [31:19] for how long should people expect to have to put up with, you know, food prices going up, [31:25] petrol prices going up, the economic impact of the straightforward moves, which moves so [31:30] much of the world's resources around being essentially closed to international shipping. [31:33] And he said, very candidly, I thought, our best guess is eight months plus after the resolution [31:43] of this conflict. [31:45] So that's there, on the record, I'm afraid, newscasters, our cabinet minister saying that [31:50] even, I mean, and we're not at the end of this conflict, so even saying, even once this conflict [31:56] is resolved and the Straits of Hormuz are opened, and we do not know when that will be, we are [32:02] looking at more than eight months of that hitting us all in our pockets. [32:06] And that is a really important thing to hear and to know, and I think just to absorb, and [32:15] I don't say that with any glee, but I think it's important that people hear that. [32:21] And I also think it's notable that you can hear the government starting to kind of try and [32:27] prepare people, because a few months ago, a few weeks ago, when this began, we asked Bridget [32:32] Philipson what the impacts might be, because I thought, oh, this is not going to be a small [32:37] thing. [32:38] And she essentially said, oh, keep calm and carry on, you know, go about your business, [32:42] do your normal thing. [32:43] Don't worry about your summer holiday. [32:44] Don't worry about petrol prices and think it'll all be fine, kind of, I'm paraphrasing. [32:49] Now government ministers are taking a very different tone. [32:51] Right. [32:53] On that note, cheery note, we say thank you to newscasters for listening. [32:58] We do. [32:59] And goodbye. [33:00] Goodbye.