DONALD Trump told Sir Keir Starmer his wife was his “greatest asset” in a phone call.

He said the PM’s wife Victoria was “beautiful” when the two men chatted just before Christmas.

The US President-elect also spoke about birds flying into wind turbines and dying.

And he joked that coyotes were getting so fat eating the stricken birds that they would soon need weight-loss drugs, according to The Times.

But when PM Sir Keir tried to stick to subjects such as defence and visiting Washington, Mr Trump veered off topic.

It comes after the tycoon attacked Labour over its Net Zero drive — urging Sir Keir to “get rid of the windmills” and “open up” the North Sea.

He said Britain was making a “big mistake” not awarding new oil and gas drilling licences.

It is the latest spat between the incoming Trump administration and the Government.

Tesla boss Elon Musk, who will be Trump’s efficiency tsar, caused a storm when he claimed Sir Keir failed to bring “rape gangs” to justice when he was director of public prosecutions.

He also said safeguarding minister Jess Phillips “deserves to be in prison” for refusing to hold a public inquiry into historic sexual abuse by gangs in Oldham.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper yesterday called her colleague a “fearless and formidable advocate for victims and survivors”.

And health minister Andrew Gwynne said: “Mr Musk ought to focus on issues on the other side of the Atlantic.”