The US President said he was ‘surprised’ how well he got on with the Prime Minister – saying it was a ‘good sign’ that lunch went on longer than expected, and said he was very different to Boris Johnson
Donald Trump has said he was surprised how well he got on with Keir Starmer – describing him as “different” to Boris Johnson.
The US President held crunch talks with the PM at the White House, and lunched together as they discussed the crisis in Ukraine and the threat of tariffs. The trip has widely been seen as a victory for Mr Starmer, who appeared to have built up a rapport with the erratic Republican.
Enthusing about the talks afterward, Trump said Mr Starmer was a “different type” of leader to Mr Johnson, who was in charge during his first term as President. The US President said it was “a good sign” that lunch had gone on longer than expected – and again praised Mr Starmer’s “beautiful voice”.
Following their meeting the President told The Spectator: “I know where he comes from from a political standpoint. I was surprised we got along very well.
“I mean, we had a lunch that ended up being longer than we thought. That’s always a good sign, you know, longer in the sense that we got along. I thought he was very good.”
He went on to say: “I have to say, he was very nice. We had a very good meeting.”
During the press conference Trump jokingly praised Mr Starmer’s accent. In his talk with the Spectator’s Ben Domenech, who agreed, the US commander-in-chief stated: “Right? I said, “that’s a beautiful voice. Beautiful.”
When Mr Domenech pointed out that the PM was very different to Mr Johnson, the President responded: “He’s different. Different type.”
The PM and US leader enjoyed a warm exchange when they got together in Washington yesterday to discuss a peace deal in Volodymyr Zelensky’s war-ravaged country. Speaking to reporters Trump hailed Mr Starmer as a “tough negotiator” after talks on a range of issues.
He said the US and UK “would have a great trade agreement, one way or another” – which could mean no tariffs, although he did not explicitly rule it out. Trump also said he was inclined to support the UK deal to hand over the Chagos islands in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius, where the UK shares a military base with the US.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting told Times Radio on Friday morning: “I think the relationship is off to a fantastic start. And what we saw in Washington yesterday was the culmination of a huge amount of work that’s been taking place ahead of the inauguration, in fact, ahead of the presidential election, to make sure that we were set up to take the special relationship between the UK and the United States from strength to strength. That was the prime minister’s objective as he set off to Washington.”
