Keir Starmer and Donald Trump share a two-hour dinner in New York in first face-to-face talks

Keir Starmer and Donald Trump shared a two-hour dinner in New York last night (Thursday, September 26) in their first face-to-face talks. The Prime Minister met the US presidential hopeful at Trump Tower, his lavish base in Manhattan, while he was in town for the UN General Assembly.

The pair were joined by Foreign Secretary David Lammy for the dinner, where they are understood to have discussed the relationship between the US and the UK - and keeping close ties in future.

It is not clear whether there was any awkwardness between Mr Trump and Mr Lammy, who previously branded the ex-President a “woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath” who was a “profound threat to the international order”.

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Mr Lammy defended the comments in July - made when he was a backbencher in 2018 - and said most politicians had “things to say about Donald Trump back in the day”.

He said he would work with whoever was elected US President. Ahead of the meeting, Mr Trump said he thought Mr Starmer was "very nice" and he was "very popular" in the UK.

At a rambling press conference where he ranted about immigration and his Democratic rival, Mr Trump said: "I actually think he’s (Mr Starmer) very nice.

“He ran a great race, he did very well, it’s very early he’s very popular."

But he saved his greatest praised for Nigel Farage, who he described as a “fantastic person”. Mr Starmer said earlier that it would be “good” to meet the polarising Republican candidate.

He added: “It'll be really to establish a relationship between the two of us. I'm a great believer in personal relations on the international stage.

“I think it really matters that you know who your counterpart is in any given country, and know them you know personally, get to know them face to face.”

Mr Starmer has not met Ms Harris yet but has said he’s keen to sit down with her before the US election in November.

The Democratic candidate is in Washington where she will join President Joe Biden for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.