Keir Starmer will have “very good and constructive” conversations with Donald Trump when he visits America later this week, a Labour minister said.
The Prime Minister will meet the US President when he goes to Washington DC later this week. Labour security minister Dan Jarvis said the discussions between the two leaders are “important” and “a very good opportunity.
Asked how Starmer would address Trump’s claims that Volodymyr Zelensky is a dictator, Jarvis told Sky News: “President Zelensky was democratically elected, and I’m sure that the Prime Minister will have very good and constructive conversations with the president.
“We have shared interests in a range of different areas, not least in terms of our national security. We’re three years on now from Putin’s illegal invasion. This is a very important opportunity to have conversations about how we can draw that conflict to a conclusion.”
Jarvis then told BBC Breakfast: “We have a special relationship with the United States, we have a shared national security interest, we want to work together to grow our economies. So these are important discussions that the Prime Minister will be having with president Trump.
“It’s a very good opportunity to look at what more we can do to put pressure on Russia and to seek to bring the conflict in Ukraine to a conclusion.”
Asked whether Starmer would need to walk a political tightrope during the talks, Jarvis said the Prime Minister “is expert in working with our international partners”.
It comes as world leaders mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with a joint call. Starmer and Trump will be part of it.
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