Sir Keir Starmer met Joe Biden at the White House for formal talks following the Prime Minister’s debut on the world stage.
The couple were photographed sitting together and at one point laughing, as the prime minister said that “the special relationship with the United States is very important and stronger than ever.”
Biden went on to call the United States and the United Kingdom the “best allies” and described Britain as “the transatlantic node” that binds NATO together.
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To cement the relationship between the two countries, Sir Keir gifted mr biden a personalized Arsenal shirt, with his surname printed and the number 46 on the back, a nod to his presidential number.
The Prime Minister is an Arsenal season ticket holder and the Downing Street team hoped the shirt would be a “personal gift” when the two leaders met in the Oval Office.
The UK leader also presents his counterpart with a copy of the Atlantic Charter that paved the way for the formation of NATOcomplete with amendments from then Labor leader Clement Attlee.
Their meeting at the White House occurs after Mr Keir He met with the US president on Wednesday at the NATO summit in Washington, marking the alliance’s 75th anniversary.
He also held talks with other world leaders, including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The prime minister, who has been in office for less than a week, said he used his conversations with Zelenskyy to emphasize that the change of government in the United Kingdom “has no bearing on the support we will provide.”
Starmer talks to Zelenskyy. Photo: AP
He told reporters in the US capital that his talks with world leaders were “an opportunity to ensure that those relationships are restored, to be able to say that our position on the world stage – leading on issues like defense and security, on climate change and energy – are very important.
The summit is expected to confirm what US and European officials have described as Ukraine’s “irreversible” path to NATO membership, but the alliance is also planning how to “Trump-proof” its future in case the Former US president returns to the White House after the November elections.
Biden’s re-election effort has been under intense scrutiny since a disastrous performance in a debate with Triumph last month, which has raised concerns about his health and age among democrats.
Starmer shakes hands with Biden
Sir Keir even faced doubts about the 81-year-old’s ability to lead after one of his proposals included forcing his peers to retire from the House of Lords at the age of 80.
The prime minister avoided a suggestion that Biden was too old and insisted his motivation was to reduce the size of the upper house.
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“In terms of the age of the House of Lords, the simple fact is that our House of Lords is enormous,” he said.
“We have more than 800 members of the House of Lords, it is simply too big. We need to reduce it.
“So it doesn’t reflect how other elected representatives are chosen in other countries, but rather has to do with the size of the House of Lords.”
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