The Prime Minister is visiting the Republican presidential candidate’s Trump Tower
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is set to meet Donald Trump during his visit to New York. The Prime Minister is visiting the Republican presidential candidate’s Trump Tower for talks ahead of November’s US election.
Sir Keir said he wanted to meet Mr Trump face to face because “I’m a great believer in personal relationships on the world stage”. The meeting has the potential to be diplomatically awkward, PA reports, not just because of Mr Trump’s bombastic style but also because Sir Keir has not been able to schedule a similar appointment with Democratic candidate and vice president Kamala Harris.
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Ahead of the meeting, he told reporters: “I’ve said a number of times, I want to meet both candidates. We’ve now got the opportunity to meet Trump, which is good.
“Obviously, I still want to speak to Harris as well. But you know, the usual diary challenges, but it’s good that this one now has been fixed.
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“It’ll be really 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.”
Speaking at a press conference before they met, Mr Trump said he thought Sir Keir was “very nice”. He said: “I actually think he’s very nice. He ran a great race, he did very well, it’s very early, he’s very popular.”
