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Sir Keir Starmer has praised US President Donald Trump for altering the “world dialog” on the conflict in Ukraine for the higher, because the British prime minister prepares for talks within the White Home this week.
Starmer is trying to decrease tensions forward of the assembly, the place he’ll search to steer Trump to take care of a US safety assure in Europe to assist safe the peace in Ukraine.
Downing Avenue has declined to touch upon whether or not Starmer will take with him an invite from King Charles to Trump for a state go to. “We’d welcome a go to as early as attainable,” Starmer’s spokesman mentioned.
British officers mentioned they had been already making preparations for a possible go to and the chance that Trump would wish to mix it with a visit to one among his Scottish golf programs.
One possibility could be for Trump to stick with King Charles at Balmoral, the royal summer season retreat within the Highlands. “His love of the royals is one among our strongest fits,” mentioned one British official.
Forward of Starmer’s go to to Washington on Thursday, Starmer instructed a gathering 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 modified the worldwide dialog over the previous couple of weeks and it has created a chance,” Starmer mentioned. “Now we should get the basics proper.”
Requested whether or not Trump, who referred to as Zelensky a “dictator” and accused Ukraine of beginning the conflict, had modified the dialog for the higher, Starmer’s spokesman mentioned: “Completely for the higher.”
The UK prime minister once more mentioned that Britain was “prepared and keen” to place troops on the bottom in Ukraine to assist safe the peace, however he would urge Trump to place US navy muscle behind the operation.
“Finally a US backstop can be important to discourage Russia from launching one other invasion in only a few years’ time,” he mentioned.
British officers mentioned that Starmer would encourage Trump’s peace initiative, however would urge him to demand a simply and truthful peace that didn’t encourage different potential aggressors.
Downing Avenue rejected ideas by Dan Jarvis, UK safety minister, that Russia’s membership of the G7 grouping — previously the G8 — could possibly be re-examined if peace had been agreed in Ukraine.
Starmer’s spokesman mentioned: “There might be no half for Russia in world governance whereas its forces stay illegally in Ukraine.”
The feedback got here as French President Emmanuel Macron met with Trump on the White Home on Monday.
Starmer’s go to later this week will give attention to defence and financial relations, with Lord Peter Mandelson, the brand new British ambassador to Washington, hoping to make Britain the primary world associate for US firms in growing synthetic intelligence.
