(Bloomberg) -- UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he’s seeking to meet Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, the two main US presidential candidates, before Americans head to the polling booths in November.
Starmer left open the prospect of meeting the Democratic and Republican candidates during his visit this week to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, telling journalists on the plane there with him late Tuesday that “we’ll just see what’s possible.”
“As far as the candidates are concerned, look, if possible, it would be very good to meet both of them at some stage before the election,” Starmer said.
The premier, himself in office for just under three months, has repeatedly said Britain will work with whoever wins the US election later this year – though his governing Labour Party has deep ties with Harris’s Democrats. Moreover, as leader of the opposition in early 2021 he said Trump needed to “take responsibility” for his role in the attack by protesters on the Capitol following the last presidential vote.
Starmer nevertheless said the main purpose of his visit is the UN summit, which he expected to be dominated by discussions over Ukraine and the Middle East. He batted away a question about when the UK and its allies might allow Ukraine to use British-provided Storm Shadow missiles to hit targets in Russia, while promising to “always listen very carefully to what Ukraine says it needs by way of capability.”
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
