Sir Keir Starmer to hold talks with new President Donald Trump in Washington within weeks

He made clear his priorities in his first speech as President, saying: “During every single day of the Trump administration I will very simply put America first.”

This shows the challenge Sir Keir will face when trying to convince Mr Trump not to oppose tariffs and secure a free-trade agreement.

The new President continued: “Our sovereignty will be reclaimed, our safety will be restored, the scales of justice will be rebalanced, the vicious, violent weaponisation of our justice department on our government will end.”

The 78-year-old claimed that for “many years a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens”.

Former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss were in attendance in Washington DC, as well as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.

The new President will have to make decisions on whether to approve the appointment of Lord Mandelson as the UK’s new ambassador in Washington, the fate of the Chagos Islands deal and the extent to which tariffs will hit Britain.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said Sir Keir would seek early talks with Mr Trump on a range of issues including trade, the war in Ukraine and the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East.

Relations between the Trump camp and Sir Keir’s party descended into a legal row after Labour volunteers campaigned for Kamala Harris during her election defeat.

But Mr Lammy has sought to build bridges with the incoming president’s allies and the Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister met Mr Trump in New York in September.

The Foreign Secretary described Mr Trump as a “revisionist actor” who “wants to change the rules of the game”.

Speaking about the dinner, Mr Lammy told the BBC: “The Donald Trump I met… had incredible grace, generosity, very keen to be a good host, very funny, very, very, very friendly, very warm, I have to say, about the UK, our royal family, Scotland.”

Prime ministers have historically not attended the inauguration of a new president, but have sought to be early visitors to the White House.

Ahead of yesterday’s inauguration in Washington, Sir Keir said the UK-US special relationship “will continue to flourish for years to come”.

The Prime Minister paid tribute to the “depth of friendship” between the 47th president and the UK, and pledged to continue to “work together to ensure the success of both our countries and deliver for people on both sides of the Atlantic”.

“For centuries, the relationship between our two nations has been one of collaboration, cooperation and enduring partnership. It is a uniquely close bond,” Sir Keir said.

“Together, we have defended the world from tyranny and worked towards our mutual security and prosperity.”

One of the first challenges for Sir Keir will be Mr Trump’s pledge to introduce trade tariffs on goods coming into the US.

While the chief targets for Mr Trump are America’s nearest and largest trade partners, Canada and Mexico, as well as China, there are fears other countries could come into the remit of tariffs.

Mr Trump introduced tariffs on steel from most countries during his first presidency as part of his “America First” programme.

Since then, the Biden administration removed them from UK steel and aluminium, although there are fears these could be reinstated.

Alasdair McDiarmid, the Community union's assistant general secretary, told The Yorkshire Post: "The first Trump administration's section 232 steel tariffs were detrimental to the industry and wider economy on both sides of the Atlantic.

“At a time of uncertainty for the sector, any repeat of these punitive tariffs would be hugely damaging."

The King has also written to Mr Trump to congratulate him on being sworn into office.

It is understood all options remain possible for an incoming state visit by Mr Trump to the UK and a visit by Charles to the US, but no plans are currently in the diary.