Starmer apologises for ‘slip of the tongue’ in announcing deal with North Korea

Sir Keir Starmer has apologised to MPs after mistakenly suggesting the Government had struck a trade deal with Pyongyang.

Defending his record on the international stage, the Prime Minister told MPs he had “been negotiating serious trade deals” during his premiership, including with North Korea.

But he later stood up and laughed as he told the Commons: “I’ve just been handed a note saying that I inadvertently said we did a trade deal with North Korea rather than South Korea.

“That would be breaking news and not very good.

“So, before I’m referred to the Privileges Committee, can I correct the record in that regard? It was a slip of the tongue but a pretty unfortunate one.”

MPs last month rejected a Conservative bid to refer Sir Keir to the Commons Privileges Committee by 335 votes to 223, majority 112.

The vote took place after opposition allegations the Prime Minister misled Parliament when he said “no pressure existed” in the process of appointing Lord Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US.

Sir Keir wrongly pointed to a trade deal with North Korea in an answer to the Liberal Democrat leader during Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions.

Sir Ed Davey claimed former health secretary Wes Streeting and Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, who he named as “Labour leadership candidates”, had both “ruled out any support for Britain joining the customs union with the EU, despite the fact that it would boost growth and help us cut the cost of living”.

He asked: “Is the Prime Minister relieved that he has finally something that he can agree with his colleagues on?”

Sir Keir replied: “In the last two years, I’ve been negotiating serious trade deals, which are vital for our most important sectors of the economy.

“They’re trade deals with the EU, but also with India, North Korea and the United States.”

Sir Ed also asked about cuts to UK overseas aid.

“We now see a dangerous outbreak of Ebola in central Africa and many people fear it’s going to spread and get much worse,” he said.

“Yet, there are rumours across Whitehall that the Prime Minister is planning further cuts to Britain’s international aid programme this year.

“Will he today rule that out entirely?”

Sir Keir said Ebola is a “very important issue”, and continued: “Obviously, we’re working at pace and with others in relation to that issue.

“We did take a decision in relation to aid in order to fund defence spending because we needed to increase defence spending.

“But we are committed to our overseas aid and we mitigated that with some of the measures that we put in place.”

The World Health Organisation has assessed the risk of global spread of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda as high at national and regional levels, but low at global level.