The US and UK are rush­ing to final­ise deals on nuc­lear react­ors, AI data centres and whisky ahead of a state visit by Don­ald Trump over­shad­owed by the fir­ing of Lord Peter Man­del­son.

OpenAI is set to announce a Brit­ish arm to its $500bn Star­gate data centre project, as part of a series of tech and trade agree­ments to coin­cide with the US pres­id­ent’s visit next week.

The tech part­ner­ship was described by Man­del­son, sacked this week as UK ambas­sador to Wash­ing­ton over his ties to Jef­frey Epstein, as his “per­sonal pride and joy”. Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to fire Man­del­son risks anger­ing Trump, who has been try­ing to dis­miss his own con­nec­tions to the late pae­do­phile.

Starmer has been rocked by the affair, with Labour MPs ques­tion­ing his future. The prime min­is­ter’s allies said the state visit came at a pivotal moment as he tries to regain the ini­ti­at­ive.

For his part, Starmer hopes to present Trump’s three-day trip as an advert­ise­ment for Bri­tain and a sign that his growth strategy is bear­ing fruit.