Nigel Farage has warned that there are “some very difficult issues” facing Sir Keir Starmer when he meets Donald Trump later this week.
The Prime Minister is set to meet the President for the first time since the Republican was sworn in for the second time, with the war in Ukraine most likely to dominate the conversation.
Now, the Reform UK leader, who Trump previously described as a “great guy”, has offered some tips for Starmer ahead of their meeting in Washington.
The Clacton MP told The Telegraph: “[With Trump] you have to be straightforward. You’ve got to not be too hesitant. He fires questions with great rapidity and he thinks very quickly. So they are quite full-on conversations…he is sharp as hell.”
Farage has offered Starmer advice ahead of his meeting with Trump
PA/Reuters
It comes as Reform’s Chief Whip and Ashfield MP Lee Anderson has hit back at Starmer, saying he will soon be “fawning over President Trump” after the Prime Minister accused Farage of “fawning over Putin”.
Farage added: “I wish the Prime Minister luck, but Trump and he are very different people…Chagos is difficult. Aligning with EU food standards threatens any free trade deal with America. There are some very difficult issues here.”
Trump has told reporters that Ukrainian President Zelensky wants to come to Washington DC later this week to sign a critical minerals deal that is central to Kyiv’s push to win US ongoing support of its war with Russia.
The Republican President also told reporters there needs be some form of peacekeeping troops in Ukraine if an agreement to end the conflict is struck.
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Downing Street has defended the deal around the Chagos ArchipelagoREUTERSMeanwhile, Starmer has confirmed that he would host a number of world leaders over the weekend once he returns from Washington.
He told reporters: “I am hosting a number of countries at the weekend for us to continue to discuss how we go forward together as allies in light of the situation that we face.”
The Prime Minister was pipped to the post when French President Emmanuel Macron became the first European leader to meet Trump since he returned to the White House.
The two agreed on the deployment of European peacekeeping forces, although the French leader did not get a firm nod that the US would play a role.
But underlining the difference in approach between the US and Europe, Macron also corrected Trump’s assertion that European nations had delivered all of their aid to Ukraine as loans, saying countries had given “real money, to be clear.”
Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron met earlier this week
Reuters
The Prime Minister said he is open to British troops providing security guarantees to Ukraine alongside other European nations.
Starmer also wants some form of US “backstop” for any security guarantee from Europe, which, he says, “will be vital to deter Russia from launching another invasion in just a few years’ time.”
“The US is our most important bilateral alliance,” he said. “So this week when I meet President Trump I will be clear. I want this relationship to go from strength to strength.”