Starmer says he and Trump ‘get on really well’ as they meet at G7

Helen Corbett, Press Association Political Correspondent in Evian-les-Bains

Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he and Donald Trump “get on really well” as he came face to face with the US president at the G7 amid tensions between the two.

It comes as G7 leaders held talks about Ukraine and the Middle East on the second day of the summit, which Mr Trump has come to with an Iran peace deal that is planned to be signed on Friday.

Relations between the US and UK leaders have taken a downturn since Mr Trump lashed out earlier this year when Sir Keir refused to allow US forces to use RAF bases in the initial wave of attacks against Iran.

This week, Sir Keir announced a social media ban for under-16s after Mr Trump’s pro-tech US administration warned against such a move.

And recent interventions from US vice president JD Vance and US defence secretary Pete Hegseth linked to the murder of student Henry Nowak have prompted No 10 to criticise those seeking to “interfere in our democracy”.

Sir Keir is also facing a row over defence spending at home as he faces his G7 counterparts for talks about global threats.

The Prime Minister told reporters he had a “very honest and frank conversation” with the US president and other G7 leaders at dinner on Monday.

Asked if Mr Trump raised concerns over defence spending or the social media ban and if he feared the issues could further sour relations between the two, he said: “No, and no, and no.

“I sat next to Donald Trump for two hours last night at dinner, which was just the G7 leaders.

“There were no listening rooms, there were no staff, no advisers.

“It was literally an opportunity for all of us to have a very honest and frank conversation.”

Sir Keir stressed that he had spoken to Mr Trump on Saturday and sat next to him at events on Monday night and Tuesday morning.

“We get on really well,” he said.

The Prime Minister rejected that the US president was snubbing him when asked about the two having not yet had a bilateral meeting at the summit.

He said: “Honestly, I mean, we’ve just spent two hours last night sat next to each other, chatting to each other.

“I spoke to him on the phone on Saturday for quite some time, one to one, as we often do.

“I’ve been sat next to him and discussing things in the margin with him this morning, and we’re about to go into another session in five minutes, where I’ll be sitting next to him again.

“So we are talking pretty constantly throughout this and it’s been very productive, very good conversations.”

Sir Keir had one-on-one talks with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday afternoon, after having met with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and had a drink with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday night.

The US president had talks on the sidelines with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Emir of Qatar on Tuesday.

The Guardian has reported that Mr Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and Mr Zelensky were all late and arrived at the same time to the talks on Ukraine on Tuesday morning.