Keir Starmer met Donald Trump during a two-hour dinner in New York, hoping to establish a good relationship with the Republican presidential candidate, The Guardian reports.
The Prime Minister was accompanied by his foreign minister David Lammy, who labelled Trump a neo-Nazi sympathiser in 2018 but has since said he would work with him in office.
Starmer and Trump are understood to have discussed the long-standing friendship and partnership between the UK and the US. Downing Street did not disclose further topics of conversation.
The Prime Minister, who is in New York to attend the UN General Assembly, failed to arrange a meeting with Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris, who is in Washington.
Prior to the meeting, Starmer told reporters:
“I’ve said a number of times, I want to meet both candidates. We’ve now got the opportunity to meet Trump, which is good. Obviously, I still want to speak to Harris as well. But you know, the usual diary challenges, but it’s good that this one now has been fixed. It’ll be really to establish a relationship between the two of us. I’m a great believer in personal relations on the international stage. I think it really matters that you know who your counterpart is in any given country…”
The meeting with Starmer came just hours after the former US president gave a lengthy press conference warning of a “massive invasion” and “sudden, suffocating flood” of millions of illegal immigrants into the US by his rival Harris, who had earlier met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House. At the meeting, Harris said Trump’s approach to war with Russia was tantamount to capitulation.
Trump about Farage: “Nigel is great”
Trump said of Starmer:
“I am going to see him in about an hour so I have to be nice. I actually think he is very nice. He ran a great race, he did very well. It’s very early but he is popular. It’s very early but I will send your regards.”
Asked about Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, Trump said:
“I think Nigel is great, I’ve known him for a long time. He had a great election too, picked up a lot of seats, more seats than he was allowed to have actually. They acknowledged that he won but for some reason you have a strange system over there, you might win them but you don’t get them. Nigel is a fantastic person.”
Prior to the meeting, the Prime Minister gave a speech to the UN General Assembly, where he told world leaders that Britain would approach international relations with less “paternalism” than before, listening more and talking less.
Starmer about Israel-Hezbollah conflict: “Stop the violence, step back from the brink”
Starmer also asked Israel and Hezbollah to pull back from the brink of a wider war “that no-one can control.” He also added:
“I call on Israel and Hezbollah: stop the violence, step back from the brink. We need to see an immediate ceasefire to provide space for a diplomatic settlement and we are working with all partners to that end.”
Starmer declined to say what exactly he would discuss with Trump and whether support for Ukraine would be raised, given that the Republican candidate is sceptical of US financial support for Kyiv.
The UK’s “special relationship” with the US
Asked whether a Trump presidency would lead to Britain becoming more isolated on the world stage, Starmer said the “special relationship” with the US “sits above whoever holds the particular office.” He also said:
“It is really important. I think it’s probably as strong now as it’s ever been, in relation to the Middle East and Ukraine … The US people will decide who they want as their president, and we will work with whoever is president, as you would expect. I’m not going to speculate on what any particular issues may be the other side of the election.”
The meeting came after Angela Eagle, the Home Secretary, risked undermining No 10’s diplomatic efforts with Trump by claiming at a narrow Labour Party conference event that his rhetoric had encouraged racists.
Eagle said Trump had helped create a “rage” against migrants through social media. She also said the right-wing Tories used language that gave a “yellow flashing light” to racists, using “toxic discourse” as they fought back against the challenge from Reform UK.
Asked about Eagle’s words on Tuesday, Trump’s spokesman reacted dismissively, saying:
“Nobody knows who this random person is or cares what comes out of her mouth. Who is she and what does she do?”
Starmer did not support Eagle when asked on Tuesday if her words were correct. He also issued a warning about a level of conflict unprecedented in UN history. British PM said:
“In Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar, Yemen and beyond. the vast majority of humanitarian need in the world today … is driven by conflict.”
The Prime Minister said that after 20 years of success in combating poverty, disease and ill-health, war is one of the main reasons why progress has stalled, calling it a “man-made catastrophe.”
