Donald Trump praises 'very popular' Keir Starmer in New York as PM aims to 'establish a relationship'
by Katy Ronkin · LBCBy Katy Ronkin
Donald Trump praised Sir Keir Starmer, calling the PM 'very popular' before their meeting in New York on Thursday.
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Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy met with Donald Trump in New York for a two-hour dinner to push for a good relationship ahead of the US election.
Sir Keir was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly and has now returned to the UK.
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."
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The Prime Minister said he wanted to meet Mr Trump face to face because "I'm a great believer in personal relationships on the world stage".
Sir Keir said meeting the former President was a "good" opportunity and a chance to "establish a relationship".
He said: "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."
Asked why he had not met with Democratic candidate and Vice-President Kamala Harris, Sir Keir blamed "diary issues" for preventing a meeting and wants to meet with Ms Harris as well.
The presidential candidate also had kind words for Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
He said: "I think Nigel is great, I've known him for a long time. He had a great election too, picked up a lot of seats, more seats than he was allowed to have actually. They acknowledged that he won but for some reason you have a strange system over there, you might win them but you don't get them."
Labour MP Emily Thornberry told the BBC that UK leaders "shouldn't pull our punches" if they disagree with the American president.
Ms Thornberry, House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman, told the BBC: "Donald Trump may be the president of the United States in a couple of months' time so of course, it's important to have meetings with him and to build a relationship with him.
"Whatever criticisms one may have of Donald Trump, the point is that the office of president is one that needs to be properly respected and the Americans are very close friends of ours."
The Labour politician added: "I think that this is an initial meeting, so there needs to be a certain amount of relationship building and we take it from there.
"I do think that if there are things the American president does or says that we disagree with, then we shouldn't pull our punches."