Keir Starmer says he understands what ‘anchors’ Donald Trump

Sir Keir Starmer said he has a good relationship with US President Donald Trump because they both “care about family”.

The Prime Minister told the BBC Radio 4 podcast Political Thinking With Nick Robinson it was “in the national interest” for the two men to connect.

He said: “We are different people and we’ve got different political backgrounds and leanings, but we do have a good relationship and that comes from a numbers of places.

“I think I do understand what anchors the president, what he really cares about.

“For both of us, we really care about family and there’s a point of connection there.”

Relationship

Sir Keir said in the interview to mark a year in office he has a “good personal relationship” with Mr Trump, and revealed the first time they spoke was after the then-presidential candidate was shot at a campaign rally in July last year.

He said Mr Trump had returned the phone call a few days after the Prime Minister’s brother Nick had died on Boxing Day.

Sir Keir said he secretly visited his 60-year-old brother before and after the general election during his cancer treatment.

He said: “It’s really hard to lose your brother to cancer. I wanted fiercely to protect him.

“And that’s why both before the election and after the election, I went secretly to see him at home, secretly to see him in hospital.

“He was in intensive care for a long time.”

Climbdown

Addressing recent political turmoil, Sir Keir said he will always “carry the can” as leader after coming under fire over a climbdown on welfare reforms and that he would “always take responsibility” when asked questions.

“When things go well… the leader gets the plaudits, but when things don’t go well, it is really important that the leader carries the can – and that’s what I will always do.”

Sir Keir also backed Rachel Reeves and said she would be Chancellor “for a very long time to come”, after the politician was visibly tearful in the House of Commons on Wednesday following a U-turn to welfare reform plans that put an almost £5 billion black hole in her plans.

Ms Reeves said it was a “personal matter” which had upset her ahead of Prime Minister’s Questions.

The UK Government had seen off the threat of a major Commons defeat over the legislation on Tuesday after shelving plans to restrict eligibility for the personal independence payment, the main disability benefit in England.

Sir Keir said he cannot “pretend… that wasn’t a tough day”, and stressed the welfare system “isn’t working for the people that matter to me”.

“In the world that isn’t politics, it is commonplace for people to look again at a situation and judge it by the circumstances as they now are and make a decision accordingly,” he said of the changes.

“And that is common sense, it’s pragmatic, and it’s a reflection of who I am.

“It was important that we took our party with us, that we got it right.

“And Labour politicians come into public life because they care deeply about these issues.