It is a huge weekend for Sir Keir Starmer as the Prime Minister heads to his grace and favour country house Chequers to hammer out a strategy with other world leaders to work out how on earth to respond to Donald Trump's tariffs.
A flurry of calls is expected starting on Friday and continuing through to Sunday as the UK and other countries try to work out what to do next.
I was keen to push Number 10 at the morning Lobby meeting on Friday on whether the PM - who in Opposition backed a second referendum on the 2016 decision to leave the European Union - viewed the 10pc tarffis on the UK as a Brexit dividend.
Not surprisingly the PM's deputy official spokesman declined to bite on the opportunity.
"Our position on this we are approaching with a cool head and a pragmatic mindset; we accept the tariffs on the UK are not relatively more favourable than other countries; but the impact will be real," he said.
Labour's blinkered position on Brexit continues to hold Britain back - Christopher Hope
GB News
But - as former Tory minister Sir John Redwood told me on GBN Tonight on Thursday night on GB News - this surely is a Brexit opportunity with the US.
The EU's 20pc tariff, and the UK's 10pc tariff, represent a clear trading advantage for companies willing to base themselves in the UK rather than the EU.
I have long thought that the Labour government would seriously wrong foot its right wing opposition in the Tories and Labour by embracing the opportunities Brexit gives to them.
After all the Government has a triple lock on its Brexit position - no return to the single market, customs union or freedom of movement. Why not own that decision and look at Brexit as an opportunity to be exploited, not a problem to be mitigated?
I raised this recently with a senior Labour minister in private and their answer was simple: "Because Brexit is a very bad idea."
This approach is blinkered. The Trump tariffs offer the UK to embrace Britain's reality of being outside the EU, with lower tariffs. Why not go for it?
Number 10 seemed to imply that it might. The spokesman also said: "The global economic landscape is shifting", adding that the UL needs to "improve our domestic competitiveness".
Britain is now in a "new era and that means acting in our national interest," he said.
Chopper's Political Podcast this week features interviews with Nigel Farage, Joao Vale De Almeida and Mel Stride.
GB News
One person who won't be asked to help is Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, who offered his services in an interview in today's Chopper's Political Podcast.
He added: "If the Government wants me to help I would help and I would do it even for a Labour government in the national interest... I cannot be seen to interfere unless the Govt wants me to be useful or helpful."
But I doubt he will get a call. Farage himself said he had not spoken the White House since the Trump administration took over, and anyway has a battle to help as many of his 1,600 council candidates into office at the local elections on May 1.
Farage gave me a tour of Reform's HQ on Thursday and there was a feeling of quiet industry. There is no doubt that the party has come on in leaps and bounds in recent months. Don't forget Farage only became leader nine months ago.
A poll today from FindOutNow puts clear turquoise water between Reform UK and its mainstream rivals. I think it is time to start to consider what the UK might look like if Farage were to be PM.
There are also interviews with former EU ambassador Joao Vale De Almeida who told me he would advise EU President Ursula von der Leyen "to stay cool, but stay firm and react in a smart way" rather than risk an "escalating tariff war".
And Mel Stride, the shadow Chancellor, spoke with me, laying bare why he thinks the Labour government has taken so many wrong turnings since the election last July.
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