TRUMP TALKS
Keir Starmer meets Donald Trump for two-hour dinner after calling PM ‘very nice’ & ‘popular’
Watch our reporter in New York in the video above outlining what is at stake in the talks
KEIR Starmer has met Donald Trump for a two-hour dinner - after the White House hopeful called the PM "very nice" and "popular".
The PM chatted with the Republican candidate at his Trump Tower skyscraper in New York after saying he wanted to get to know him.
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Trump called Sir Keir Starmer “popular” ahead of their first meeting - but saved his strongest praise for "fantastic person" Nigel Farage.
The Republican candidate was holding a press conference at Trump Tower in New York ahead of his first face-to-face meeting with the British PM.
Asked on his thoughts of the Labour chief, he said: “Well, I'm going to see him in about an hour, so I have to be nice, right?
“But I actually think he's very nice. I think he ran a great race. He did very well. It's very early, but he's popular, and I'll be seeing him.”
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Mr Trump hailed the Reform UK leader and his old pal Mr Farage as “great”.
In an eccentric take on the electoral reality he said: “He had a great election too, picked up a lot of seats, more seats than he was allowed to have.
“Actually, they acknowledge that he won. But for some reason, you have a very strange system over there. You might win them, but you don't get them. Nigel is a fantastic person.”
Sir Keir's meeting with Mr Trump could be an awkward meeting if the notoriously prickly former president him on disparaging comments made by top Labour MPs.
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Foreign Secretary David Lammy has described him as a “neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath”.
And this week Home Office minister Angela Eagle accused Mr Trump, 78, of helping to breed racism in Britain.
Ahead of the meeting Sir Keir, in town for the United Nations General Assembly, was hopeful of getting cosy with Don.
He insisted: “It’ll be really to establish a relationship between the two of us.
"I’m a great believer in personal relations on the international stage.
“I think it really matters you know who your counterpart is in any given country and know them personally, get to know them face to face.”
Sir Keir remained tight-lipped about whether he would press Mr Trump to keep up support for Ukraine should he beat Democratic candidate Kamala Harris on November 2.
He did, however, insist the UK-US relationship was “as strong as it’s ever been, in relation to the Middle East and Ukraine”.
No10 is also pushing for a meeting between the PM and Vice President Harris.
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In his speech to the UN Sir Keir said Britain would be less bossy on the world stage.
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He said: “We will change how the UK does things.
“Moving from the paternalism of the past. Towards partnership for the future. Listening a lot more — speaking a bit less.”
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