Within days of Donald Trump’s inauguration, images flooded American TV stations of handcuffed and shackled illegal immigrants shuffling towards a military aircraft for deportation. The pictures appalled many, but delighted many more. Soon after they aired, the president was enjoying one of the highest approval ratings of his political career, with most US adults fine with his work in office so far.
This side of the Atlantic, the government’s net popularity rating has hit -48 per cent, and the spectre of Reform, now leading in one poll and hoovering up every atom of media attention, looms large in Labour minds. And so, on 10 February BBC News at Ten viewers were faced with Trump-lite images of illegal immigrants being marched up airline steps in our own set of deportation videos. Across social media, there were videos of arrests being made in houses and shops in a bid to illustrate that 19,000 illegal migrants have been deported since the election.
And yet a media strategy clearly intended to ape the “success” of Trump’s immigration videos was chiefly successful only in reminding us of the vast differences between our two nations. Not since the US version of The Office has television so clearly highlighted the gulf between the perma-positive gullibility of Americans and the innate scepticism of Brits.
In the US, the footage was accompanied by exuberant or outraged voiceovers from glossy-haired TV hosts. In the UK, the BBC’s Chris Mason was sent to Basildon in the drizzle to show passers-by the videos on his mobile phone. The BBC story of dawn raids was framed as “This is what the government wants you to see” rather than “This is a thing that has happened”. Which is exactly what the people of Basildon thought. “That, to me, is a government gimmick,” said one resident. The story quickly became about the government’s decision to release the videos, rather than what they contained.
On YouTube, where the videos racked up thousands of views, the comments were depressingly predictable (both for Labour and humanity). “This is just a lame PR operation,” said one. “Not even a drop in the ocean,” said another. Of course, some will have been persuaded that Labour is doing something to end illegal immigration. And undoubtedly it is a big issue for “Reform-curious” voters. But the British dislike being confronted by unkindness.
Meanwhile TUC polling shows government policies such as a ban on zero-hours contracts and the extension of workers’ rights are hugely popular with Reform voters. Yet it feels these stories are being hidden at the back of the policy pantry in case the Daily Mail notices them.
The lesson of all this? Yes, the threat of Reform and Nigel Farage is real and, yes, they’re clinging on to Trump’s coat-tails. But a British audience is very different to an American one. As Ricky Gervais, who co-wrote both versions of The Office, said, Americans “applaud ambition and openly reward success. Brits are more comfortable with life’s losers. We embrace the underdog until it’s no longer the underdog.”
Which could be the best bit of news Keir Starmer has had in a while.
There’s been one beneficiary of Donald Trump’s mission to create American jobs for American people: Lara Trump. The president’s daughter-in-law is taking on a role as host of a new Fox News show focusing on “the return of common sense to all corners of American life”.
There are now 19 former Fox staffers working inside the Trump administration, including the defence secretary. And the Fox founder, Rupert Murdoch, has dropped in to the Oval Office. Trump described him as “in a class by himself… an amazing guy”.
How time flies. Just four years ago Murdoch was described by insiders as “a frothing-at-the-mouth” enemy of the president, while Trump denounced Fox News as going “weak and soft”.
Meanwhile the Maga-sphere’s assaults on the US media intensify. In the space of a week Trump has said CBS should ditch its 60 Minutes news show as he wages a $10bn lawsuit over how it edited a Kamala Harris interview; the billionaire casino owner Steve Wynn, a Trump supporter, has filed a petition to overturn a 60-year-old Supreme Court ruling that protects press reporting on public officials; the president has called for the firing of a veteran Washington Post columnist; and Elon Musk wants a Wall Street Journal reporter to be sacked and has called for the public-funded outlets Radio Free Europe and Voice of America to be shut.
In the absence of a credible – or indeed, any – voice from the Democrats, the liberal media has become the official opposition.
The revolving door of disgraced TV presenters spins once more. The football pundit Jermaine Jenas, sacked by the BBC in August for workplace misconduct, has reappeared, on TalkSport. In a video clip marking his return to broadcasting, Jenas said: “Essentially this is about me looking inwards, making some improvements and coming back a better person.” Presumably so much time spent “looking inwards” meant Jenas had no time to consider how his rapid return feels for the women who took the brave step of reporting him for sending sexually suggestive messages.
[See also: How 4chan became the home of the elite reader]
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This article appears in the 12 Feb 2025 issue of the New Statesman, The Reformation