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Sir Keir Starmer has praised US President Donald Trump for changing the “global conversation” on the war in Ukraine for the better, as the British prime minister prepares for talks in the White House this week.
Starmer is attempting to lower tensions ahead of the meeting, where he will seek to persuade Trump to maintain a US security guarantee in Europe to help secure the peace in Ukraine.
Downing Street has declined to comment on whether Starmer will take with him an invitation from King Charles to Trump for a state visit. “We would welcome a visit as early as possible,” Starmer’s spokesman said.
British officials said they were already making preparations for a potential visit and the likelihood that Trump would want to combine it with a trip to one of his Scottish golf courses.
One option would be for Trump to stay with King Charles at Balmoral, the royal summer retreat in the Highlands. “His love of the royals is one of our strongest suits,” said one British official.
Ahead of Starmer’s visit to Washington on Thursday, Starmer told a meeting of world leaders to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s “barbaric” invasion of Ukraine there was now a window for peace.
“President Trump has changed the global conversation over the last few weeks and it has created an opportunity,” Starmer said. “Now we must get the fundamentals right.”
Asked whether Trump, who called Zelensky a “dictator” and accused Ukraine of starting the war, had changed the conversation for the better, Starmer’s spokesman said: “Absolutely for the better.”
The UK prime minister again said that Britain was “ready and willing” to put troops on the ground in Ukraine to help secure the peace, but he would urge Trump to put US military muscle behind the operation.
“Ultimately a US backstop will be vital to deter Russia from launching another invasion in just a few years’ time,” he said.
British officials said that Starmer would encourage Trump’s peace initiative, but would urge him to demand a just and fair peace that did not encourage other potential aggressors.
Downing Street rejected suggestions by Dan Jarvis, UK security minister, that Russia’s membership of the G7 grouping — formerly the G8 — could be re-examined if peace were agreed in Ukraine.
Starmer’s spokesman said: “There can be no part for Russia in global governance while its forces remain illegally in Ukraine.”
The comments came as French President Emmanuel Macron met with Trump at the White House on Monday.
Starmer’s visit later this week will focus on defence and economic relations, with Lord Peter Mandelson, the new British ambassador to Washington, hoping to make Britain the main global partner for US companies in developing artificial intelligence.