John Jefferson
Sir Keir Starmer met with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday after the former president described him as “very nice”.
The prime minister visited Trump Tower in New York ahead of November’s US election as he visited the United States for the United Nations General Assembly.
Foreign secretary David Lammy, who called Mr Trump a “racist KKK and Nazi sympathiser” seven years ago, also attended the talks.
Ahead of the meeting, Sir Keir said: “It’ll be really good 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, and know them personally, get to know them face to face.”
Mr Trump praised Sir Keir ahead of the meeting, saying: “I actually think he’s very nice. He ran a great race, he did very well, it is very early, he is very popular.”
Asked whether he would be prepared to stand up to Mr Trump on issues such as support for Ukraine, Sir Keir said: “The first thing I think is important to say in relation to this is we’ve obviously had a special relationship with the US for a long time, forged in really difficult circumstances.
“That always sits above whoever holds the particular office, either in the US or the UK. And 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. And you’ve seen how closely I’ve been working with the US in relation to both of those issues.
“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.”
Before he met with Sir Keir, Trump was asked about Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform.
He 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.”
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