The PM was holidaying in Scotland in his family when he and other European leaders were invited to the White House by Donald Trump to discuss the Ukraine war
Keir Starmer was forced to disrupt his family holiday for the second summer in a row so he could dash to Washington DC for crisis talks.
The PM was with his loved ones in Scotland on Saturday when Donald Trump invited him, Volodymyr Zelensky and seven other European ministers to the White House just 48 hours later. It is the second summer in a row Mr Starmer has had to set his plans aside, with widespread rioting last year meaning he could not jet off with his wife Victoria and children.
Labour minister Torsten Bell branded it an “occupational hazard” for Prime Ministers to have to change their holiday plans when asked if Mr Starmer was exhausted. He told Sky News: “The Prime Minister is making a real difference in terms of these negotiations. It was absolutely the right thing to be in Washington.
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“It’s really important progress that’s been made, but particularly in the US involvement in those security guarantees, that’s an absolute precursor to a long lasting settlement to this conflict we all want to see.
“And I want to see a Prime Minister that’s playing his part in making that happen. And that’s what you’ve seen him do actually, month after month. It’s not just about the summer.”
The Pensions Minister told host Wilf Frost: “And it is an occupational hazard for prime ministers that holidays are interrupted. You’ll have been covering that for years.
“I’ve been around British politics enough to have seen that happen year after year. I want the Prime Minister to have a rest, but I’m afraid what we want to do is make sure that we’re addressing these big issues and that in this summer means making sure we get those security guarantees in Ukraine.”
Mr Starmer arrived in Scotland on Saturday morning, The Times reports, but was very quickly called into diplomatic talks with world leaders. During this chat the US President extended an invitation to those on the call.
No10 did not confirm that the PM would be attending until Sunday afternoon. He was picked up from Glasgow shortly after 8am and taken to Washington DC for the White House summit.
He was one of several European leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian PM Georgia Meloni and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte in attendance.
Mr Trump said he spoke directly with Vladimir Putin to begin planning a meeting between the Russian leader and Mr Zelensky. He also said Moscow will “accept” multinational efforts to guarantee Ukraine’s security.
Mr Starmer described the talks as “good and constructive”, adding: “There was a real sense of unity between the European leaders that were there, and president Trump and president Zelensky”. The Prime Minister highlighted “two material outcomes” from the talks, firstly that the coalition of the willing “will now work with the US” on security guarantees.
“That’s really important for security in Ukraine, for security in Europe, and for security in the UK,” he said. “The other material outcome was the agreement that there will now be a bilateral agreement between president Putin and president Zelensky, that was after a phone call between president Trump and president Putin during the course of this afternoon, followed by a trilateral which will then add in president Trump.
“That is a recognition of the principle that on some of these issues, whether it’s territory or the exchange of prisoners, or the very serious issue of the return of children, that is something where Ukraine must be at the table.
“These were the two outcomes that were the most important coming out of today. They’re positive outcomes, there was a real sense of unity. We’ve made real progress today.”
Posting on his Truth Social platform after the meeting, Mr Trump also described the talks as “very good”, adding: “During the meeting we discussed security guarantees for Ukraine, which guarantees would be provided by the various European countries, with a coordination with the United States of America.
“Everyone is happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine. At the conclusion of the meetings, I called president Putin and began arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between president Putin and president Zelensky.
“After the meeting takes place, we will have a trilat which would be the two presidents plus myself.”
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