Sir Keir Starmer and Reform UK MP Nigel Farage (Image: GETTY)
Nigel Farage says Sir Keir Starmer is facing a “difficult” task as the Prime Minister gears up for his crucial meeting with in Washington on Thursday.
And the Reform UK leader, a close ally of the US President, has offered Sir Keir several tips for getting on the billionaire’s good side.
The PM will visit the White House on Thursday to try to convince Mr Trump that a lasting peace in will endure only if Kyiv and European leaders are at the table as negotiations move forward with Moscow.
But Mr Farage urged him to tread carefully, striking a balance between tact and honesty.
The Clacton MP told : “I wish the Prime Minister luck, but Trump and he are very different people.
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President Donald Trump throws pens used to sign executive orders to the crowd (Image: AP)
“You have to be straightforward with Trump. 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, if you know what I mean. He is sharp as hell.”
Mr Farage added: “You’ve got to be polite. He’s quite old-fashioned, in that sense, in one-on-one relationships.
“I think I’d open with, ‘My god, you’ve hit the ground running,’ or something like that.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy in Washington (Image: PA)
Echoing remarks by the billionaire himself on his Truth Social platform, Mr Farage continued: “He’s done more in 30 days than most presidents do in years.
“But it’s really tough for Starmer. Chagos is difficult. Aligning with EU food standards threatens any free trade deal with America. There are some very difficult issues here.”
He gushed: “There’s a lot of humour with Trump. It’s quick-witted repartee, which he is a master of. He’s very funny. He’s enormous fun to be with.”
Speaking at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Mr Trump said: “We’re going to do the best we can to make the best deal we can for both sides.
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“For , we’re going to try very hard to make a good deal so that they can get as much land back as possible.”
Nevertheless the President’s rapprochement with has unsettled America’s historic allies in Europe, who have found themselves on their heels with Mr Trump returning to the White House with a determination to dramatically make over US foreign policy to correspond with his “America First” world view.
The Trump administration held talks last week with without Ukrainian or other European allies represented while the US this week refused to sign on to resolutions at the UN blaming for the war.
The administration has faced accusations that Mr Trump is ignoring Europe or that he is too eager in his push for settlement talks with Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (Image: Getty)
Vice President JD Vance insisted: “He hasn’t conceded anything to anyone. He’s doing the job of a diplomat.”
Mt Trump’s meeting with Sir Keir comes a day before he meets with Ukrainian President .
The two are expected to sign off on a contentious agreement that would give the US. access to ‘s critical minerals, which are used in the aerospace, defence, and nuclear industries. Mr Zelensky is pushing for an agreement without specific security guarantees from the US.
But Mr Trump, announcing the leaders’ plans to sign the agreement, said: “I’m not going to make security guarantees … very much. We’re going to have Europe do that.”