Keir Starmer has denied being snubbed by Donald Trump after the US President held a series of private meetings with world leaders at the G7 summit but did not schedule a one-to-one meeting with the British Prime Minister.
The summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, brought together leaders from the world’s major economies to discuss security, trade and international affairs.
While Mr Trump met separately with several foreign leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, no bilateral meeting was arranged with Sir Keir.
Further private discussions were also scheduled with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The absence of a dedicated meeting prompted questions about the state of relations between London and Washington, particularly following disagreements earlier this year over Britain’s refusal to allow American military action against Iran to be launched from Diego Garcia.
One Republican strategist familiar with the Trump movement said:
“Whether President Trump personally has a problem with Starmer, I couldn’t tell you. But there is growing concern among many American conservatives about what they see happening in Britain. The issues that come up time and again are free speech, online censorship, two-tier policing and government overreach.
“There is a feeling that Britain is moving in the wrong direction and that Starmer’s government is increasingly out of step with the values many Americans associate with the UK. Politically, people also recognise that leaders come and go. The question in Washington is whether Starmer will still be there in a few months time.”
However, Sir Keir insisted relations with the US President remained strong.
Speaking to reporters at the summit, the Prime Minister said he and Mr Trump had been in frequent contact and had spent significant time together during G7 events.
He said the pair had spoken at length by telephone on Saturday and had sat together during a two-hour dinner attended by G7 leaders on Monday evening.
Sir Keir said they had continued to speak throughout the summit, including during sessions and informal discussions between meetings.
The Prime Minister rejected suggestions that the lack of a formal bilateral meeting represented any diplomatic slight.
He also said Mr Trump had not raised concerns about Labour’s proposed plans to restrict children’s access to social media or about Britain’s current level of defence spending.
According to Sir Keir, discussions among leaders at the summit were productive and included a wide range of international issues.
The Prime Minister’s comments came as he faced questions about defence spending following the recent departure of former Defence Secretary John Healey.
Asked whether additional defence funding would be announced, Sir Keir did not commit to any new spending beyond existing plans.
Instead, he said newly appointed Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis was reviewing priorities and considering how resources should be allocated under the Government’s forthcoming defence investment programme.
Sir Keir argued that Labour had already increased defence spending by reallocating funding from other government departments and said further work was under way to determine future priorities.
Despite the Prime Minister’s insistence that relations with Washington remain positive, the fact that no formal one-to-one meeting took place between the British and American leaders contrasted with the private discussions Mr Trump held with a number of other international counterparts during the summit.
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