Sir Keir Starmer was forced to interrupt his family holiday for a second summer in a row when he made his dash to Washington DC for crunch talks on Ukraine.
The Prime Minister had arrived in Scotland on Saturday for a break, but was almost immediately plunged into frantic diplomatic efforts.
After a flurry of calls over the weekend, Sir Keir jetted to Washington DC on Monday for talks with Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky and slew of other European leaders.
It comes after he cancelled his planned break last summer in order to remain in charge of the Government’s response to the outbreak of rioting across Britain.
Sir Keir was due to return to Scotland and resume his family holiday on his arrival back to the UK following his trip to the White House, it was reported.
Prior to his departure from Washington DC, the PM hailed the ‘real unity’ on show as European leaders sat down with the US President and Ukrainian President.
Sir Keir said there was a ‘common understanding’ that there needed to be a NATO-style security guarantee as part of a peace plan for Ukraine.
He also looked forward to a possible trilateral meeting between the Mr Trump, Mr Zelensky and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Sir Keir Starmer was forced to interrupt his family holiday for a second summer in a row when he made his dash to Washington DC for crunch talks on Ukraine
Sir Keir jetted to Washington DC on Monday for talks with Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky (and slew of other European leaders
Sir Keir looked forward to a possible trilateral meeting between the Mr Trump, Mr Zelensky and Russia’s Vladimir Putin
Speaking to Sky News following the White House talks on Monday, the PM said: ‘We had two topics on the table for this afternoon’s meeting and there was real unity about them.
‘Everyone in the room – President Trump, President Zelensky, the European leaders – were really clear these were the outcomes we wanted.
‘On security guarantees, we set up a coalition of the willing some months ago to plan for and set out the European or coalition of the willing elements of the guarantee.
‘I always said that we would need a US backstop. I’m really pleased, therefore, that now we’re coordinating and working with the US on what that is.
‘And we’re working on a common understanding that this is an Article 5-like guarantee, which gives you a real sense of what we’re working on.’
He added: ‘The second outcome, which is the movement forward on bilaterals and trilaterals, is a central recognition that on questions like territorial issues is that there can be no decisions on Ukraine without Ukraine.’
Sir Keir was due to co-chair a call of the so-called ‘coalition of the willing’ this morning.
The PM and French President Emmanuel Macron have been leading the talks between nations looking to assist Ukraine.
Article 5 is the ‘collective defence’ clause of the NATO treaty and means that an attack against one NATO ally is considered as an attack against all NATO allies.
Ben Wallace, the former Tory defence secretary, said a similar agreement between NATO allies and Ukraine, which is not a NATO member, meant it was ‘totally possible that we could all go to war if Ukraine is attacked again’.
The ex-Cabinet minister told Times Radio: ‘An Article 5 is a very strong, important measure.
‘But it would have to be written in a treaty and have to be ratified by our parliaments so that we all know what we’re in for. I would support something like that.’
According to The Times, Sir Keir was expected to try and resume his family holiday on his return to Scotland from Washington DC.
A Government minister this morning acknowledged having to interrupt holidays was an ‘occupational hazard’ of being PM.
Torsten Bell, the pensions minister, told Sky News: ‘The PM is making a real difference in terms of these negotiations. It was absolutely the right thing to be in Washington.
‘It’s really important progress that’s been made, particularly in the US involvement in those security guarantees.
‘That’s an absolute precursor to a long-lasting settlement to this conflict that we all want to see.
‘I want to see a PM that’s playing his part in making that happen. And that’s what you’ve seen him do actually, month after month. It’s not just about the summer.
‘It is an occupational hazard for prime ministers that holidays are interrupted. I’ve been around British politics enough to have seen that happen year after year.
‘I want the PM to have a rest, but I’m afraid what we want to do is make sure that we’re addressing these big issues and that in this summer means making sure we get those security guarantees in Ukraine.’
Mr Trump last night said he had spoken directly with Vladimir Putin to begin planning a meeting between the Russian leader and Mr Zelensky, which will then be followed by a three-way meeting involving himself.
The US President said Moscow will ‘accept’ multinational efforts to guarantee Ukraine’s security.
Mr Zelensky, meanwhile, said he was ‘ready’ for bilateral and trilateral meetings.
But he told reporters following the White House meeting that if Russia does ‘not demonstrate a will to meet, then we will ask the United States to act accordingly’.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the US and Europe would ‘do more’ on tariffs and sanctions against Russia if the country ‘is not playing ball’ on direct talks with Ukraine, in comments to Fox News.
