In The Room | Iran-US ceasefire: How can Starmer deal with Trump?

WorldPolitics
10 Apr 2026 • 6:16 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

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What happens inside government when the US president threatens to “destroy a whole civilisation”?

As tensions spike following Donald Trump’s extraordinary comments, former deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara and Cleo Watson, ex-advisor to Theresa May and Boris Johnson, take you inside the rooms where officials scramble to respond to the unpredictable.

They also ask: how should Keir Starmer handle a leader who changes course by the hour? What would actually be happening behind the scenes during the two-week ceasefire? And as fuel costs rise and global norms wobble, are we watching a temporary crisis - or the start of a completely new world order?

New episodes of In The Room drop every Friday. You can listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or watch on YouTube.