Keir Starmer’s aides held talks with Donald Trump’s team on US trip

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Sir Keir Starmer sent his senior aide and national security adviser earlier this month to meet top members of Donald Trump’s team as Britain works to forge closer ties with the incoming administration.

The prime minister has sent Morgan McSweeney, his Downing Street chief of staff, and Jonathan Powell, the national security adviser (NSA), to Florida and Washington for high-level talks.

The pair met with Susie Wiles, who will serve as White House chief of staff after Trump’s inauguration next month, and Mike Waltz, the incoming president’s pick for NSA.

The talks focused on U.K.-U.S. trade, Ukraine, the Middle East and China, according to Downing Street officials, and they also touched on Starmer’s plans to visit Washington immediately after Trump’s inauguration on January 20.

Wiles campaigned for Trump 2024 this year and was praised on stage by the president-elect in his victory speech in November.He was also the first appointment in the new administration to be unveiled.

Waltz, a Florida congressman and former US Army Special Forces officer, is a China hawk and has been recognized as a champion of “peace through strength.”

Starmer’s efforts to forge closer ties with the U.S., which included dining with Trump over the summer and speaking to the president-elect by phone on Wednesday, are facing several potential sticking points.

These include the UK’s deal to cede sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in exchange for long-term control of a joint US-UK military base.

It is not clear whether the Chagos agreement came up in talks with Starmer’s aides or in Wednesday’s phone call.

The proposed deal, designed to secure the future of a vital US military base on Diego Garcia, has also drawn sharp criticism from senior Trump allies, raising the prospect that he could seek to block the deal once he takes office.

Powell, a former Downing Street chief of staff to Sir Tony Blair, helped seal the deal after Starmer appointed him special envoy to the Chagos Islands talks shortly before he was appointed Britain’s NSA.

In their phone call on Wednesday, Starmer congratulated the US president-elect on his latest team appointments, while Trump discussed meeting the Prince of Wales in Paris earlier this month, according to No 10.

The pair also discussed Ukraine and the Middle East. “Both agreed on their shared ambition to strengthen the close and historic relationship between the UK and the US,” Downing Street added. towards international security and economic growth and prosperity”.

Starmer has not been invited to Trump’s inauguration in January, despite the president-elect breaking with historical convention by asking several foreign leaders to attend.

Last week, Trump took the unusual step of extending an invitation to Chinese President Xi Jinping, a signal that he intends to resume the high-profile relationship between the two men during his first term.

McSweeney and Powell’s transatlantic journey, which began on December 2, was first reported by The Telegraph newspaper.