Keir Starmer said he understands what ‘anchors’ the US President, and said Donald Trump had called him following the death of his brother Nick on Boxing Day
Keir Starmer has opened up about his relationship with Donald Trump – saying the US President called him following the death of his brother.
Mr Starmer says he understands what “anchors” the Republican leader, and despute their differences they have a “good relationship”. In an interview with BBC podcast Political Thinking, he told host Nick Robinson the two men “care about family”.
He said he had called Mr Trump after a would-be assassin tried to kill him during the Presidential election. And the PM revealed the President rang after Mr Starmer’s younger brother Nick died on Boxing Day.
He said: “We are different people and we’ve got different political backgrounds and leanings, but we do have a good relationship and that comes from a numbers of places.
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“I think I do understand what anchors the president, what he really cares about. For both of us, we really care about family and there’s a point of connection there.”
He went on to say he has a “good personal relationship” with Mr Trump. He said his first chat with the Republican after he became PM was after the attempted shooting.
Mr Starmer told Mr Robinson: “That was a phone call really to ask him how it was, and in particular I wanted to know how it impacted on his family.” And he revealed that Mr Trump later called him after learning of Nick’s death.
“We talked about my brother, and he was asking about him,” the Prime Minister said.
Mr Starmer, who is very protective of his family, said he had secretly visited his 60-year-old brother before and after the general election during his cancer treatment. He said: “It’s really hard to lose your brother to cancer. I wanted fiercely to protect him.
“And that’s why both before the election and after the election, I went secretly to see him at home, secretly to see him in hospital. He was in intensive care for a long time.”
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