Keir Starmer has revealed why he rushed to pick up Donald Trump’s papers during one of the most talked about moments of the G7 summit in Canada.
The prime minister and US president were announcing the implementation of their US-UK trade deal after holding a bilat at the summit in Alberta when the wind caught the papers, sending them to the floor.
It prompted a swift response from Sir Keir, who stooped down and collected the bundle, before handing them back to Trump.
Speaking to UK journalists after Trump had left the summit, the prime minister was asked whether the incident – along with the US president confusing Britain and the EU and a recent trip while getting on Airforce 1 – should prompt concerns about the 79-year-old’s health.
But the prime minister replied: “No.”
Talking about the incident, Sir Keir pointed out that he was the only one who could have picked them up for fear of security reacting to anyone else being near the president.
He said: “I mean, look, there weren’t many choices with the documents and picking it up because, as you probably know, there were quite strict rules about who can get close to the President.
“I mean, seriously, I think if any of you had stepped forward other than me.. I was just deeply conscious that in a situation like it would not have been good for anybody else to have stepped forwards– not that any of you rushed to!
“There’s a very tightly guarded security zone around the president, as you would expect.”
He added: “[The president] was in good form yesterday.
“And I’m just really pleased that we signed the executive order.”
Asked why Trump, who praised Starmer’s statesmanship after their meeting, seems to like him so much, the PM said: “Well, I mean, that’s really for him to answer me, but I think it’s we do have a good relationship. I think that is in the national interest.
“I’m very pleased that I’ve got a good relationship with him, notwithstanding, as both he and I acknowledge, that our political backgrounds are different. But it just goes to prove that, you know, it is possible to work in a constructive way if you keep your focus on the national interest.”
He also expressed optimism about completing the final part of the trade deal in getting steel tariffs down to zero per cent.
Sir Keir said: “There’s further work to do in relation to steel, but we’re getting on and doing that work, and that doesn’t require us to change the ownership of British Steel. But as we were with cars and with aerospace, we’re in the implementation stage now, and it’s included in the executive order, which is so the executive order mirrors what I agree with the President when I was over in Washington.
“So that’s the significance. But now it’s in the executive order form, which obviously moves along on the implementation stage.”
He also revealed he spoke to the boss of Jaguar Land Rover after finally implementing the deal and was told that 44,000 employees were “highly relieved”.
