(Bloomberg) -- UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Joe Biden are set to discuss issues including the Israel-Hamas war during a meeting in Washington next week, as the two nations show fissures in their handling of the 11-month-old conflict.
The announcement of Starmer’s visit to the White House came as the UK premier traveled to Dublin to improve ties with Ireland, following tense Brexit negotiations under the previous Conservative government.
Biden and Starmer plan to meet Sept. 13, the White House said in a statement. It will be their second in-person meeting since the UK leader took office in July. High on the agenda are a hostage release and cease-fire deal in the Israel-Hamas war, it added.
Britain earlier this month sparked a diplomatic row over a decision to suspend some arms licenses to Israel, over concerns that the use of British components in Gaza risks violating international law. While the UK had previously communicated the move to allies, it signaled a divergence in tactics from the US, which is directly sending arms to Israel.
Starmer and Biden are also set to discuss support for Ukraine, the protection of international shipping from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, supply chains and climate issues, according to the White House. The prime minister’s visit will follow his efforts to rekindle relations with several European neighbors.
Ireland ‘Reset’
Starmer’s trip to Ireland is the first by a UK premier in five years. He also met with German and French leaders Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron in recent weeks, but the relationship with Ireland is considered particularly special as the two nations share close cultural links and a mutual interest in Northern Ireland.
Ireland is also one of the UK’s top trading partners, with the relationship worth €100 billion ($111 billion) a year.
On Saturday, Starmer met with his Irish counterpart Simon Harris, as well as several business representatives, before heading to Dublin’s Aviva Stadium to watch Ireland and England go head-to-head in their first competitive football match to be played in Ireland in over three decades.
Harris was the first international leader hosted by Starmer in the UK after the Labour Party’s landslide election victory in July. Both are co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement, the landmark treaty that ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland dubbed “the Troubles.”
The two leaders are seeking to put British-Irish relations on a new path, Harris said in Dublin. They met “to flesh out what a reset actually looks like in a practical sense for our citizens,” he said, adding “it has to be embedded in things like prosperity and peace.”
It also “has to cover the Good Friday Agreement,” Starmer noted. “We renew that commitment here today, and the wider EU reset.”
--With assistance from Airielle Lowe.
(Updates with comments from Harris and Starmer in Dublin.)
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