Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has warned Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer not to be “too studious” with Donald Trump as he meets the US President today for key talks.
Speaking to GB News, the leader of Reform admitted that although Starmer appears on “good form” following Prime Minister’s Questions, he should be wary of Trump’s “quick-fire” negotiating tactics.
The US President also accepted an invitation by King Charles, handed to him by Starmer, to visit the UK for his second state visit, to which Farage declared that the US leader is “obsessed” with the Royal Family.
Nigel Farage warned Starmer against being ‘too studious’ with Trump as they met at the White House
Reuters / GB News
Discussing the meeting, Farage told GB News: “Starmer appeared to be in quite good form at the despatch box yesterday. He told a very good joke at the British Embassy party last night, so I think he’s going in with a bit of confidence.
“The discussions around Ukraine, it’s all going to be about security guarantees. Obviously Trump’s going to say, we’re going to have massive investments in Ukraine and we’re going to want to protect those investments – but quite where that goes I don’t know, but maybe a bit better than people think.”
When pressed by host Martin Daubney on how he believes the two world leaders will interact with each other, Farage claimed that personality wise, Starmer and Trump are “miles apart”.
Farage said: “We’d all like to be a fly on the wall for these conversations, but what I do know about Trump is it’s a very, very quick-fire conversation.
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Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump have been pictured together after meeting at the White HousePA“And so I hope that I hope the British Prime Minister isn’t too studious in terms of his responses and in terms of his questions. They’re enormously different people in in behavioural traits, in political thinking, they are miles apart.”
Highlighting potential “difficulties” between the UK and US trade talks, Farage noted that Starmer’s decision to “align with the EU” on food standards may prove “difficult” in negotiations.
Farage explained: “I suspect where the difficulty is going to be is over our trading relationship with America, not just can we be exempted from the tariffs that are due to come in on the 2nd of April.
“But more broadly, it was the announcement that we’re now going to align with EU food standards under the purview of the European Court of Justice. That actually makes heading forward from here, a free trade deal with the USA, now really quite difficult.”
Farage told GB News that current affairs with Ukraine may make a trade deal ‘really quite difficult’
GB News
Admitting that Trump has a “huge soft spot” for the UK and the Royal Family, Farage told GB News that Starmer can “use that to his advantage” when engaging in talks to strengthen the UK-US ties.
Farage concluded: “The one thing the British Prime Minister does have going for him is that there’s no question that Donald Trump does have a very big soft spot for the UK.
“Donald Trump is kind of obsessed with the British Royal Family, he just loves talking about it.
“I’m sure some things are going well, and some less well – we’ll just have to see.”