Donald Trump says Sir Keir Starmer is 'very nice' and 'very popular' as the pair meet

Sir Keir visited Trump Tower for talks ahead of November’s US election during his trip to New York to appear at the UN General Assembly.

The Prime Minister said he wanted to meet Mr Trump face to face because “I’m a great believer in personal relationships on the world stage”.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy – who called Mr Trump a “racist KKK and Nazi sympathiser” in 2017 and promised to protest on the streets if he visited the UK – also attended the Trump Tower meeting.

Speaking at a press conference before they met, Mr Trump said he thought Sir Keir was “very nice”.

He said: “I actually think he’s very nice. He ran a great race, he did very well, it’s very early, he’s very popular.”

The presidential candidate added praise for Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.

He said: “I think Nigel is great, I’ve known him for a long time.

"He had a great election too, picked up a lot of seats, more seats than he was allowed to have actually.”

Referring to the first past the post voting system, which is also used in the US Presidential election, Mr Trump added: “They acknowledged that he won but for some reason you have a strange system over there, you might win them but you don’t get them.”

Ahead of the meeting, Sir Keir told reporters: “I’ve said a number of times, I want to meet both candidates.

“We’ve now got the opportunity to meet Trump, which is good.

“Obviously, I still want to speak to Harris as well.

“But you know, the usual diary challenges, but it’s good that this one now has been fixed.

“It’ll be really to establish a relationship between the two of us."

Asked whether he would be prepared to stand up to Mr Trump on issues such as support for Ukraine, Sir Keir said: “The first thing I think is important to say in relation to this is we’ve obviously had a special relationship with the US for a long time, forged in really difficult circumstances.

“I think it’s probably as strong now as it’s ever been, in relation to the Middle East and Ukraine.

“And you’ve seen how closely I’ve been working with the US in relation to both of those issues.

“The US people will decide who they want as their president, and we will work with whoever is president, as you would expect.”