Britain Hates Trump. But It Quite Likes Trumpism.

Opinion|Britain Hates Trump. But It Quite Likes Trumpism.

In February, on a desperate diplomatic trip to the White House, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain pulled out a card from the inside pocket of his plain black jacket. Gingerly, he presented it to President Trump: It was, he explained, an invitation from King Charles III for Mr. Trump to make a second state visit to Britain. The honor of a visit is traditionally extended to American leaders in only their first term in office. A second visit, Mr. Starmer was quick to point out, would be “truly historic.”

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump will make good on the offer and pitch up in Britain for two days of pageantry. There will be less outrage than during his first state visit in 2019, but major protests are still planned. The American president is very unpopular in Britain. Three-fifths of the British public disapprove of him, according to one poll, and the top words associated with him include “idiot” and “dangerous.” The government’s obsequious approach has attracted only scorn. Over here Mr. Trump is an easy punchline, not a president.

Yet his hard-right nativism isn’t getting such a hostile reception. On the contrary, it is flourishing. Politically, this is expressed through the stunning rise of Reform U.K., an aggressively anti-migrant party led by the establishment’s bête noire, Nigel Farage. Socially, resentment and antipathy to outsiders are all the rage. Britons may dislike Mr. Trump, as he embodies almost every negative stereotype about Americans. But they seem, more and more, to like Trumpism.

The story of how Britain arrived at this juncture is long and ugly, a moving-right show played out over decades. But the most recent chapter would focus on widespread disenchantment with the Labour government, elected with a huge majority in 2024. The party’s promise was to take the country out of the long winter endured under 14 years of Conservative rule.

It hasn’t happened yet. Instead, amid disarray that has seen scandals take down the deputy prime minister and the ambassador to Washington in the past two weeks alone, the message has been one of making “tough choices.” These choices are oddly reminiscent of the ones pursued by previous governments: Chiefly, cut public services and talk a draconian game on immigration.

The strategy has proved unavailing. As large numbers of Britons experience severe economic pressure and crumbling infrastructure, attention has focused on asylum seekers arriving on British shores in small boats. Resentment toward refugees and migrants, in an atmosphere of scarcity, has risen. Mr. Farage has adeptly harnessed this anger. Like Mr. Trump, he offers a potent nationalist narrative that blames shadowy interlopers for the country’s decline and promises a golden future — or a return to an imagined golden past — once the foreigners are expelled and Britain can be made great again.