Brits were uneasy as Sir Keir Starmer after he shook hands with Donald Trump (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir Starmer was welcomed by at the White House on Thursday evening (February 27) and within minutes he blasted by scores of Brits.
The and President warmly shook hands at the door in before posing for photographs in front of the onlooking press. After Trump told reporters “We can” get a peace deal done in , the pair headed inside for talks in the Oval Office.
There, Sir Keir handed Trump an envelope containing an invite from King Charles III for a second state visit to the UK, which the 78-year old gladly accepted. Whilst topics including , trade and the sovreignty of the Chagos Islands were on the leaders’ agenda, some social media users appeared to be more interested in discussing their greeting instead.
Video footage of the handshake was soon shared to , prompting one user of the platform to hit out: “Look how Starmer pulls in Trump’s hand. Clearly he was anticipating the Trump alpha-shake. Starmer looks pathetic next to him regardless.”
Whilst a second quipped: “That was a grade A Trump handshake right there. Watch Starmer fight the urge to check if it’s broken after they finally let go!”
:
??????BREAKING: President Trump welcomes British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House.
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson)
Despite the duo being all smiles and sharing a joke together, further criticism was aimed in Sir Keir’s direction. A third X user slammed: “Starmer is pathetic. Grovelling at the feet of a lunatic. Utterly pathetic, how embarrassing for Britain. Mr Teflon strikes again.”
A fourth agreed: “OMG, this is so cringe! Starmer looks utterly pathetic and awkward! Like a little boy who desperately wants to be liked by the school cool kid!” And a fifth got personal: “The way Starmer keeps laughing and touching Trump on his shoulder is making my skin crawl. It’s embarrassing. What a pathetic weak weasel of a man.”
Inside the Oval Office, meanwhile, the PM was treated much kinder. Trump declared: “It’s a great honour to have Prime Minister Starmer at the Oval Office. It’s a very special place, and he’s a special man – and the United Kingdom is a wonderful country that I know very well, I’m there a lot.”
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Starmer late hit back at Vice President JD Vance after he accused the UK of “infringements on free speech”, meanwhile. The comment was made during a Q&A session between the politicans and reporters.
Vance stated: “We do have a special relationship with our friends in the UK and European allies, but we also know that there have been infringements on free speech that affect not just the British, but also effect American technology companies – and by extension American citizens.”
However, Sir Keir declared in response: “We have had free speech for a very long time in the UK. I’m very proud of that.”