Sir Keir Starmer meets Donald Trump for New York talks

The Prime Minister visited the Republican statesmanlike candidate’s Trump Tower for talks up of November’s US election.

Sir Keir said helium wanted to conscionable Mr Trump look to look due to the fact that “I’m a large believer successful idiosyncratic relationships connected the satellite stage”.

The gathering has the imaginable to beryllium diplomatically awkward, not conscionable due to the fact that of Mr Trump’s bombastic benignant but besides due to the fact that Sir Keir has not been capable to docket a akin assignment with Democratic campaigner and vice president Kamala Harris.

Ahead of the meeting, Sir Keir told reporters: “I’ve said a fig of times, I privation to conscionable some candidates.

“We’ve present got the accidental to conscionable Trump, which is good.

“Obviously, I inactive privation to talk to Harris arsenic well.

“But you know, the accustomed diary challenges, but it’s bully that this 1 present has been fixed.

“It’ll beryllium truly to found a narration betwixt the 2 of us.

“I’m a large believer successful idiosyncratic relations connected the planetary stage.

“I deliberation it truly matters that you cognize who your counterpart is successful immoderate fixed country, and cognize them personally, get to cognize them look to face.”

Foreign Secretary David Lammy – who called Mr Trump a “racist KKK and Nazi sympathiser” successful 2017 and promised to protestation connected the streets if helium visited the UK – besides attended the Trump Tower meeting.

Speaking astatine a property league earlier they met, Mr Trump said helium thought Sir Keir was “very nice”.

He said: “I really deliberation he’s precise nice. He ran a large race, helium did precise well, it’s precise early, he’s precise popular.”

The statesmanlike campaigner added praise for Reform UK person Nigel Farage. He said: “I deliberation Nigel is great, I’ve known him for a agelong time. He had a large predetermination too, picked up a batch of seats, much seats than helium was allowed to person actually. They acknowledged that helium won but for immoderate crushed you person a unusual strategy implicit there, you mightiness triumph them but you don’t get them.”

Sir Keir said the UK embassy team, led by ambassador Dame Karen Pierce, “has got bully relations with some camps and has had for a agelong time”.

“So it’s not the benignant of commencement of something, it’s the continuation of those bully relations that person been determination with some camps, and that’s a truly bully happening that the embassy has been doing.”

Asked whether helium would beryllium prepared to basal up to Mr Trump connected issues specified arsenic enactment for Ukraine, Sir Keir said: “The archetypal happening I deliberation is important to accidental successful narration to this is we’ve evidently had a peculiar narration with the US for a agelong time, forged successful truly hard circumstances.

“That ever sits supra whoever holds the peculiar office, either successful the US oregon the UK.

“And it is truly important.

“I deliberation it’s astir apt arsenic beardown present arsenic it’s ever been, successful narration to the Middle East and Ukraine.

“And you’ve seen however intimately I’ve been moving with the US successful narration to some of those issues.

“The US radical volition determine who they privation arsenic their president, and we volition enactment with whoever is president, arsenic you would expect.

“I’m not going to speculate connected what immoderate peculiar issues whitethorn beryllium the different broadside of the election.”