Brit Ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson welcomes Starmer

Peter Mandelson has welcomed Keir Starmer and David Lammy to Washington ahead of the PM’s crucial meeting with Trump later today.

Welcoming the political pair on stage, he said: “We are living through a very, very significant moment for our lives, between our two countries and indeed for all the freedom loving democracies in the world.

“The US and the United Kingdom, we basically share everything together.

“We share people, we share cultures, we share a lot of intelligence, we share technologies, and we also share some of the fighting of our adversaries as well.

“And of course one thing we don’t need to fight over is trade, because we have this fantastically fair and balanced trade relationship when we reciprocate so much, that’s just a little thing for you to remember in the coming weeks.”

“But I tell you what we’ve also got at this time and that is an era of great possibility for us, for both our countries in what we can do together.”

Starmer added: “I’ve only just arrived but already I can feel there’s real buzz around Washington right now.

“You can sense that there’s a new leader. He’s a true one-off, a pioneer in business, in politics. Many people love him. Others love to hate him.

“We want to strike to a new partnership, we share the view that our best days lie ahead.

“And, you know, taking out a chainsaw isn’t quite my style, but we are stripping away red tape and bureaucracy.”