Spectator exclusive: Trump was ‘surprised’ to get on well with Starmer

By most accounts, Keir Starmer seems to have done a good job keeping Donald Trump on side when the two men met at the White House yesterday.

Starmer offered his counterpart a second state visit to the United Kingdom, with a handwritten invitation from the King, while the Donald suggested that Britain may well escape the tariffs about to be imposed on the EU. In perhaps the most surprising turn of events, Trump even complimented Starmer’s voice, saying he had a ‘beautiful accent’ (who said the special relationship was dead?).

The president shed more light on their relationship when speaking to The Spectator’s Ben Domenech in his exclusive interview yesterday. It may have been the second time that Starmer met Trump, but the president told Ben that it was the third:

I will say, I know… where he comes from on a political standpoint. I was surprised we got along very well. I mean, we had a lunch that ended up being longer than we thought. That’s always a good sign, you know — longer in the sense that we got along. I thought he was very good. I met him twice before, you know, he came to see me twice before, but this time was the best. And I think we got along very well. And you want to keep that relationship with them. But you’re right. Their policies are changing. You know, I have a lot of property over there. As a real estate person, I own Turnberry, which is a big deal, and I own in Aberdeen and I own in Ireland, a great thing on the ocean. Big beautiful thing, beautiful club and a hotel, and they’re doing well.

Old friends indeed!