Donald Trump praised Keir Starmer’s ‘very respected’ wife as she gatecrashed the leaders’ meeting in Scotland today.
Lady Victoria Starmer looked bemused as the the president hailed her as ‘a respected person all over the United States’ in an impromptu press conference on the steps of his golf club in Ayrshire.
She posed alongside the two leaders at Turnberry, having accompanied the PM to Switzerland for the Women’s Euro 2025 final last night.
During the president’s ‘working holiday’ in the country of his mother’s birth he gave an impromptu press conference – as bagpipes played in the background.
Through the din of noise the US president could be heard saying: ‘We want to make the Prime Minister happy.’
Referring to Victoria Starmer, the Prime Minister’s wife, Mr Trump added: ‘She’s a respected person all over the United States.
‘I don’t know what he’s (Sir Keir) doing but she’s very respected, as respected as him. I don’t want to say more, I’ll get myself in trouble. But she’s very, she’s a great woman and is very highly respected.’
Lady Victoria Starmer looked bemused as the the president hailed her as ‘a respected person all over the United States’ in an impromptu press conference on the steps of his golf club in Ayrshire.
During the president’s ‘working holiday’ in the country of his mother’s birth he gave an impromptu press conference – as bagpipes played in the background.
She posed alongside the two leaders at Turnberry, having accompanied the PM to Switzerland for the Women’s Euro 2025 final last night (pictured).
Mr Trump told Sir Keir Britain and the rest of Europe it must stop illegal immigration to avoid ‘ruin’ as the two leaders met in Scotland today.
He spoke out about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza – which the leaders will discuss further – and had criticism for Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine war.
But he also addressed the wider issue of immigration facing Europe he added that it was becoming a ‘different place’ – and praised Sir Keir for taking a strong stance against it.
‘This is a magnificent part of the world, and you cannot ruin it, you cannot let people come here illegally,’ the president said.
‘And what happens is there’ll be murderers, there’ll be drug dealers, there’ll be all sorts of things that other countries don’t want.
‘They send them to you and they send them to us and you’ve got to stop them and I hear you’ve taken a very strong stand on immigration. And taking a strong stand on immigration is imperative.’
The latest data from the Home Office indicates that 122 people crossed the Channel in small boats on Saturday.
Security is tight at Turnberry in Ayeshire where they are discussing how to continue putting into place the US-UK trade deal they signed earlier this year, as well as the Middle East crisis.
The president met Sir Keir and Lady Victoria on the clubhouse steps at his Ayrshire golf course.
The Prime Minister will travel to Ayrshire, where Donald Trump is staying at his Turnberry golf resort, for face-to-face talks with the US President
Tight security is in place at the resort on the Scottish coast
They met on the steps of the clubhouse while a bagpiper playing loudly in the background, with the president saying Sir Keir was going a ‘great job’.
He also said he did not mind Sir Keir ‘taking a position’ on Palestinian statehood, though he said he would not do so himself.
The PM’s meeting with Mr Trump also comes amid growing global outrage at the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, while peace talks between Hamas and Israel came to a standstill last week.
As haunting images of emaciated children come out of the shattered territory, Mr Trump was asked if he agreed with PM Benjamin Netanyahu that there was no starvation occurring.
‘I don’t know. I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry,’ he said.
‘But we’re giving a lot of money and a lot of food, and other nations are now stepping up.’
Some 255 MPs from nine parties have now signed a letter demanding the UK follow the lead of France and recognise a Palestinian state. The majority of those who have signed are Labour MPs.
And reports suggest the row over whether to do this stretches all the way into the Cabinet.
Police officers patrol during the visit by US President Donald Trump to his Trump Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire
Mr Trump is pictured playing a round of golf at Trump Turnberry on Sunday during his visit to Scotland
The US is the country ‘with the leverage’ to make a difference in the conflict in Gaza, the Business Secretary suggested this morning.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast ahead of Sir Keir’s meeting with Mr Trump, Jonathan Reynolds said: ‘Of course, Gaza will be on the agenda today.
‘The intolerable scenes that we’re seeing, the world is seeing, are the backdrop to that.
‘And of course, the US has itself secured on two occasions ceasefires in the conflict, so they have been actively engaged in it, working with Egypt, the Qataris, and other key partners in the region.
‘The US is the country I think we’d all recognise with the leverage here to really make a difference on both sides. So their role is fundamentally important.’
Mr Reynolds dismissed the idea that there is a split at the top of Government over when to recognise a Palestinian state.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting is among those to have signalled a desire for hastened action calling for recognition ‘while there’s still a state of Palestine left to recognise’.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the Government wants to recognise a Palestinian state ‘in contribution to a peace process’.
Security forces are pictured at the Trump Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire
Mr Trump’s private trip to the UK comes ahead of a planned state visit in September
Mr Trump said he and Sir Keir would talk about trade and Israel
Speaking to Good Morning Britain, Mr Reynolds said: ‘There’s no split. The whole of the Labour Party, every Labour MP, was elected on a manifesto of recognition of a Palestinian state, and we all want it to happen.
‘It is a case of when, not if.’
He added: ‘It’s about how we use this moment, because you can only do it once to have a meaningful breakthrough.’
Mr Reynolds also admitted there is ‘more to do’ on the US-UK trade deal, but played down the prospect of a fresh announcement later.
The Business Secretary said: ‘We were very happy to announce the breakthrough that we had a few months ago in relation to sectors like automotive, aerospace, which are really important to the UK economy.
‘But we always said it was job saved, but it wasn’t job done. There’s more to do.
‘The negotiations have been going on on a daily basis since then. There’s a few issues to push a little bit further today.
‘We won’t perhaps have anything to announce a resolution of those talks.
‘But there’s some sectors that we still need to resolve, particularly around steel and aluminium, and there’s the wider conversation about what the US calls its reciprocal tariffs.’
The US-UK agreement signed at the G7 summit last month slashed trade barriers on goods from both countries.
But tariffs for the steel industry, which is of key economic importance to the UK, were left to stand at 25 per cent rather than falling to zero as originally agreed.
Concerns had previously been raised that the sector could face a levy of up to 50 per cent – the US’s global rate – unless a further agreement was made by July 9, when Mr Trump said he would start implementing import taxes on America’s trading partners.
But that deadline has been and gone without any concrete update on the status of UK steel.
