The U.K.'s response to Trump, like America's, is divided.

Summary

Consider This from NPR

Episode: The U.K.'s response to Trump, like America's, is divided
Date: September 17, 2025
Host: Mary Louise Kelly

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Main Theme

This episode examines the divided response in the United Kingdom to President Donald Trump’s historic second state visit. It explores the ceremonial welcome and contrasting widespread protests in London, the controversy around U.S. foreign policy and Trump's influence, the role of right-leaning media (notably GB News), and the shifting landscape of British politics and public opinion as America and the U.K. grapple with their complex relationship.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Ceremonial Welcome vs. Protest (00:04–01:44)

• Main Idea: President Trump's UK visit is marked by grandeur at Windsor Castle—parades, banquets, royals—but is met by massive dissent in the streets.

• Protesters' Concerns:

  • U.S. actions in Gaza
  • Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein
  • Perceived U.S. move away from traditional alliances

• Memorable Scene: Protesters with “Trump baby blimps” filling London streets.

  “The sights and sounds beyond the castle were far different… thousands of protesters filling the streets of London with chants and signs and Trump baby blimps.”
  — Mary Louise Kelly [00:30]

• Protester Quote:

  “America is no longer our ally... America has turned on us and is more aligned with autocratic dictatorship... unless we acknowledge the problem, we are not able to solve it.”
  — Emma Blink, protester from Ukraine [00:51, 00:58]

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2. Political Opposition: Sir Ed Davy Interview (03:00–08:52)

• Background:
  Sir Ed Davy, leader of the Liberal Democrats (UK's 3rd largest political party), declined the state banquet in protest of Trump’s policy on Gaza.

• Key Perspectives:

  • Banquet Boycott:

    “I love America and I love our king. ... But I've been really worried about President Trump's approach on Gaza… He is the one person in the world who could end the humanitarian catastrophe there.”
    — Sir Ed Davy [03:40]

  • On U.S. Leverage Over Gaza:
    Argues Trump could “stop the funding of the Israeli Defense Forces,” press Netanyahu, and exert pressure on regional players for a ceasefire and hostage release.

    “President Trump... has the means to stop it and he chooses not to stop it. I’m told he wants the Nobel Peace Prize—well, if he stops the killing... I’d support him for it.”
    — Sir Ed Davy [04:55]

  • On Elon Musk’s Influence and Rhetoric:
    Davy condemns Musk’s remote appearance at a right-wing rally, accuses him of fomenting violence:

    “Elon Musk spoke by video link ... said violence is coming, fight back or die. ... 26 police officers injured, four very seriously.”
    — Sir Ed Davy [06:55]

    Calls for cross-party action to “hit back” at Musk’s economic interests due to interference in British democracy.

  • Tone on Social Media Exchanges:
    Defends his use of ridicule and humor against Musk as “exposing fanatic extremists,” intending to demonstrate decency and accountability.

    “He started it... What I try to do in my approach to politics is make people smile a little bit and ridicule these fanatic extremists like Elon Musk...”
    — Sir Ed Davy [08:12]

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3. Media Reaction: Inside GB News (09:03–15:01)

• Profile of GB News:

  • Right-leaning channel founded 4 years ago, recently overtook the BBC in ratings.

  • Editorial approach claims “common sense” rather than ideological slant.

    “We just need to be correct.”
    — Michael Booker, Editorial Director [10:57]

• Comparisons to Fox News:

  • While not self-identifying as the “Fox News of Britain,” GB News acknowledges some parallels, especially for U.S. audiences’ understanding.

  • Emphasizes coverage for underserved regions and communities.

    “I'm from the north of England... wanted to get into those communities and listen to what was going on...”
    — Michael Booker [10:00]

• Editorial Voice and Staff:

  • Christopher Hope (Political Editor) admits right-leaning presenter backgrounds but argues mainstream UK media ignores issues important to viewers (immigration, crime).

    “[Our viewers] want to have the entire conversation. We want to talk about the issues; it's okay to be worried about immigration. It's not a racist thing or a far right thing.”
    — Christopher Hope [12:15]

• Example of GB News Coverage:

  • Highlighted coverage of local protests against migrant hotel accommodation, contrasting their approach with other UK networks.

  • Willingness to raise “offensive” or polarizing questions.

    “Many people can’t afford a hotel room in this country, but our taxes are paying for people who arrive here illegally to stay… Raising that question… is one of the big issues we’ve been doing at GB News.”
    — Christopher Hope [13:08]

• International Expansion & Trump Media Partnership:

  • Launching a Washington, D.C.-based show, expanding coverage of U.S. politics for the UK audience.

  • Entered a partnership with Trump Media.

    "Devin Nunes... describes the goal of the partnership... as 'putting another dent in the global woke news monopoly.' Is that how you see it?"
    — Mary Louise Kelly [14:36]

    "Well, that's the way that he sees it. Whether some people are woke or not, I don't particularly care, really. My job... is to do the best I can for the people. We are the People's Channel."
    — Michael Booker [14:44]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Pomp vs. Protest:
  “The sights and sounds beyond the castle were far different... Trump baby blimps.”
  — Mary Louise Kelly [00:30]

• Disillusioned Protester:
  “America is no longer our ally... unless we acknowledge the problem, we are not able to solve it.”
  — Emma Blink [00:58]

• Political Boycott Rationale:
  “I do think he needs to be held to account for his failure to act. In Gaza.”
  — Sir Ed Davy [03:40]

• Call for Accountability:
  “We are the People's Channel.”
  — Michael Booker [14:44]

• Pressing Media Influence:
  “Imagine if we did that. He said that civil war is inevitable in the UK. Imagine if we did that.”
  — Sir Ed Davy, on Elon Musk [06:00]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:04–01:44 — Contrasts of ceremony and protest, voices from the London demonstrations
• 03:00–08:52 — Interview with Sir Ed Davy (Liberal Democrats): Boycotting banquet, Gaza policy, social media and Elon Musk's role
• 09:03–15:01 — GB News profile and interviews: Editorial stance, views on UK and US media, partnership with Trump Media

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Tone & Style

• Mary Louise Kelly’s reporting is informative, clear, and occasionally gently probing.
• Sir Ed Davy’s manner is passionate but principled, mixing seriousness with wry humor.
• The GB News team emphasizes an “everyman” perspective, resistant to establishment/elite narratives.

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Summary Flow

The episode draws a vivid portrait of a split in British society—a ceremonial facade for a controversial American visitor overlays deep divisions about U.S. policy, the ever-expanding influence of right-leaning media, and shifting values on both sides of the Atlantic. Through the voices of protestors, politicians, and journalists, NPR documents how Trump’s presence stirs passionate debate about alliances, authority, and how people want their nations—and their news media—to represent them.

Transcript

[Mary Louise Kelly]

The first day of President Trump's historic trip to the UK was dominated by ceremony. A carriage procession around the grounds of Windsor Castle with the royal family inspection of the guards, exhibits from the royal collection, a lavish banquet preceded by a joint US UK military flypast, all the pomp and pageantry that might be expected for the first ever second state visit by an elected politician to a British monarch. But the sights and sounds beyond the castle were far different, that is thousands of protesters filling the streets of London with chants and signs and Trump baby blimps.

[Emma Blink]

Trump's regime is basically a fascist regime.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Emma Blink moved to the UK from Ukraine in 2018. She says she came out to protest to raise public awareness.

[Emma Blink]

The fact that America is no longer our ally, the fact that America has turned on us and like is more aligned with other autocratic dictatorship is such a scary fact for people to acknowledge that people mostly prefer to hide from it and pretend they're still living in the world before this. And we need to raise public awareness because unless we acknowledge the problem, we are not able to solve it. Ever.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Protestors told us they were demonstrating over what is happening in the United States, over what is happening in Gaza, over Trump's relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The overwhelming message from the protesters Safe.

[Sir Ed Davy]

Now safeguard Donald Trump don't welcome in.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Consider this. The UK's response to Trump is like America's divided. Coming up, we hear opposing perspectives on President Trump's visit to the United Kingdom from NPR. I'm Mary Louise Kelley.

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[Mary Louise Kelly]

It's Consider this from NPR. President Trump spent the day at Windsor Castle, a full day of pageantry capped with a banquet tonight in St. George's hall hosted by the King. Now that is an invitation a lot of people would give their right arm for. But we're about to meet someone who turned it down. Today I trekked down to the banks of the Thames River, Parliament looming over my shoulder to meet Sir Ed Davy. He is a member of Parliament and leader of the Liberal Democrats. That's the third, third biggest political party here in Britain. Sir Ed, welcome.

[Sir Ed Davy]

Thank you very much, npr, for having me on.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Why boycott the banquet?

[Sir Ed Davy]

Well, I love America and I love our king. And it was a very difficult decision. I've been to many banquets before. Huge honor. But I've been really worried about President Trump's approach on Gaza. He is the one person in the world who could end the humanitarian catastrophe there. Although I actually support his state visit because I believe we should talk to our closest ally. Even though I'm no fan of the president, I do think he needs to be held to account for his failure to act. In Gaza. I wanted put pressure on the British government, who will get a chance to talk to the president, to say, pick up the phone to Netanyahu, tell him to stop the attacks, to get food in, pick up the phone to the Qatari government and governments in the Gulf states to put pressure on Hamas to release the hostages. And I want President Trump to do that. I want our government to tell him he should do that.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

When you say President Trump is the only person with the power to stop this, meaning what's happening in Gaza, may I press you on that? Because we saw just last week Israel airstrikes on Hamas targets in Doha and Qatar. That was against the wishes of President Trump. Why do you think he has more influence when it comes to Gaza?

[Sir Ed Davy]

Well, President Trump could stop the funding of the Israeli Defense Forces if he chose. It's no doubt. And it sits on the record. There are billions of dollars, American taxpayers dollars, funding Netanyahu's government and what they do. President Trump, you're right. He says these things. He says he doesn't want it to happen, but he has the means to stop it and he chooses not to stop it. I'm told he wants the Nobel Peace Prize. Well, if he wants that prize, I'd support him for it. If he stops the killing, stops the famine and gets the hostages released. If he does that, I think people in Israel will be happy. I think people in Palestine will be happy. And we could get on and start talking about a two state solution.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

A question on American influence. Maybe American interference in British politics is more apt. You got into a Twitter spat this week with Elon Musk. He called you a craven coward. You responded by calling him a craven coward and adding A spongebob squarepants emoji.

[Sir Ed Davy]

Yeah, it went down well on Twitter. I mean, oh no, it's X now, isn't it? I've got to keep up. You know, I think it's good to use humor to ridicule someone like Elon Musk. I'm not sure if he has a sense of humor to be honest, but hopefully people get the point. He shouldn't be interfering in British politics. He's called for the overthrow of our democratic elected government. Imagine if we did that. He said that civil war is inevitable in the uk. Imagine if we did that.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Just to interject here, this is Elon Musk, beamed in via satellite over the weekend to a big march, 100,000, 200,000 people on the streets of London rally organized by a hard rate figure here in the uk. And you have called this an attempt to incite violence on British streets. I mean, are you actually worried that Brits are going to resort to violence because Elon Musk told them to?

[Sir Ed Davy]

Well, I hope he's ignored and that's why I'm calling him out. He attended a rally where some people were protesting, you know, peacefully and quite rightly unhappy with the government. I'm unhappy with the government. Some of them were hard right. And Tommy Robinson, who led it, he's a, he's a, he's a racist and is one of the more horrible figures in British politics. And Elon Musk supports him. And Elon Musk spoke by a video link to part of that protest and he said violence is coming, fight back or die. And what happened? Well, we saw 26 police officers injured, four very seriously injured. I think Elon Musk is an outrageous character. I've said that the British government, I want to work cross party on this, should take measures against him and hit his economic interests as a democratic elected government who wants to stand up to people who are interfering in our politics, trying to cement violence, trying to cement civil war. I think we should hit back.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

If the concern is the possibility of violent rhetoric crossing into violent action, I do have to ask, how does swapping insults on Twitter help the cause?

[Sir Ed Davy]

Oh, listen, he started it. Trying to call me out and listen. It's only part of it, isn't it? And what I try to do in my approach to politics is make people smart, smile a little bit and ridicule these fanatic extremists like Elon Musk and show that there are decent people out there who remember decent values, who care about other people, care about their fellow human beings and we're going to hold these very wealthy, powerful people to account.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Ed Davy, Member of Parliament and leader of the Liberal Democrat Party here in the United Kingdom. Sir Ed, thank you.

[Sir Ed Davy]

Thank you very much. Great to talk to you.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Among the many news outlets hustling to cover all the activity surrounding President Trump's visit is the Conservative upstart TV channel GB News. Gb, as in Great Britain. Here's what it sounded like when we dropped by today.

[Michael Booker]

That's the master control room. So they're managing all the feeds coming in. This is the news desk here and these are the producers who are doing the on air work. And then I come over and point at the screens a lot and say, why you're not doing that.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

That's Michael Booker, the editorial director, walking us past the news desk. He's got one eye on an anchor broadcasting live from studios a few feet behind us, another on screens showing his team on the ground in Windsor.

[Michael Booker]

When we've got an American president coming here, whoever it is, you know, it's a big event. We want to be doing it better than everyone else.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Now, when I called GB News upstart, that is because they're relatively new. GB News was founded four years ago.

[Michael Booker]

I think the idea was that the other news channels and a lot of the media establishment in Britain had forgotten what they were there for originally, you know, to speak for the people or to bring the news to people that actually mattered to them. I'm from the north of England and I felt that particularly places in the north of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, had been forgotten. So we wanted to get into those communities and listen to what was going on in those communities.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

That formula seems to be working. Last month, the official ratings agency Barb found that GB News had overtaken the BBC as Britain's most watched news channel for the first time. And it's taking a deliberately different approach than the Beeb in other ways, which I put to Michael Booker, as I have mentioned to people here in London, hey, I'm going to go see the GB News newsroom. They say they're on the right, you lean right, your coverage leans to the right on the political spectrum. Is that fair? Is that true?

[Michael Booker]

I think we try and be common sense. I don't come in as editorial director thinking we need to be right today or left today, or I just think we just need to be correct.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

For Americans trying to figure out who may not have heard of GB News, who say, so, is this the Fox News of Britain? Are you the Fox News of Britain?

[Michael Booker]

We don't Set out to be the Fox News of Britain. But in terms of understanding where we are, just simply, I suppose that's the nearest to what we are, the nearest equivalent. Yeah, but we're very different from Fox News. I was brought in because I'd been the editor of three national newspapers and they'd been across the spectrum as well. It's not just a few media executives like myself telling you what to think. We want to hear what you think.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Around this point in our interview with Booker, Christopher Hope wandered over. He's the political editor here at GB News. He had just come off air, microphone still pinned to his lapel because he's back on in a few minutes. I asked him about the issue of public trust, about using politicians as anchors. Quite a few of your presenters come from the right side of the political spectrum. Is that intentional?

[Christopher Hope]

I don't entirely presenters, I think we.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

But is that a fair character?

[Christopher Hope]

I think there's a sense that the mainstream media is a bit left of center and a bit in a kind of a bubble where our viewers tell us they don't raise issues they care about such as immigration, such as concerns about crime. Now, the broadcast themselves I'm talking about would dispute that, but we hear that from the viewers. So, you know, we want to have the entire conversation. We do want to talk about the issues that they, our viewers care about immigration, that it's okay to be worried about immigration. It's not a racist thing or a far right thing. And trying to, just trying to talk to them and understand that and give them a voice because previously, you know, they felt looked down on, I think.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Is there an example of a story that's been big in the headlines? So CB News covered differently from the other existing channels and that was intentionally.

[Christopher Hope]

Yes, I mean, I think there has been, I think we were first to cover properly the protests outside a hotel in Epping called the Bell Hotel. The policy for the government, and the last government has been to put illegally arrived migrants up in hotels and that's caused protests around the country. Many people can't afford a hotel room in this country, but our taxes are paying for people arrive here illegally to stay in a hotel. You know, what's their background, no one knows they arrived here legally, etc. So raising that question, talking about it is one of the big issues we've been doing at GB News.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

As you can hear, the questions they're raising at GB News are going to offend some people. They're okay with that. For now, Christopher Hope is focused on tomorrow. He'll be at President Trump's press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. He's trying to figure out what he'll ask if he gets called on. One thing to watch, he says both British and American reporters will likely have questions about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. GB News, meanwhile, has big plans across the pond in Washington this coming Monday. They are launching the Late show live from their brand new Washington bureau. It's an attempt to explain the U.S. and U.S. politics to their audience here in Britain. And then there's this. GB News recently announced a partnership with Trump Media. The press release, which is up on your website, quotes Devin Nunes, who is the Trump Media chief executive. He describes the goal of the partnership in part as, quote, putting another dent in the global woke news monopoly. Is that how you see it?

[Michael Booker]

Well, that's the way that he sees it. I'm not going to argue with that. Whether some people are woke or not, I don't particularly care, really. My job purely and simply as editorial director is to do the best I can for the people. We are the People's Channel.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

Michael Booker, editorial director, speaking with me today in his newsroom here at GB News, or as he would tell you, the People's Channel. This episode was produced in London by Katherine Fink and Beth Timmons and in Washington by Tyler Bartlem and Elena Burnett. It was edited by Courtney Dornang, Nick Spicer, Roberta Rampton and Nadia Lancy. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

[Michael Booker]

Foreign.

[Mary Louise Kelly]

It'S consider this from npr. I'm Mary Louise Kelly.

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