Keir Starmer’s hopes of meeting Kamala Harris and Donald Trump during a visit to the US this week may be dashed by their campaign schedules, the Guardian has learned. The prime minister has been advised by civil servants that he should try to secure a meeting with Harris and Trump before the US election in November. UK officials explored the prospect of Starmer meeting both candidates at the end of this week, two government sources have said. The prime minister is making a whistle-stop trip to Washington DC on Friday for a discussion with the US president, Joe Biden. Neither Harris nor Trump are likely to be able to see Starmer on Friday, however, because they are scheduled to be campaigning outside Washington. Harris and Trump are preparing to face off in their first TV debate on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. Harris will then travel to North Carolina on Thursday and Pennsylvania on Friday as part of a tour of battleground states. Trump is expected to travel to California for a fundraising event on Thursday. Officials are now exploring the prospect of scheduling a meeting between Starmer and Harris at the UN general assembly (Unga) leaders’ summit in New York in late September. Starmer’s surprise visit to Washington later this week will give him an opportunity to have a “strategic in-depth discussion” with Biden, Downing Street said. Western support for Ukraine, as well as efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and de-escalate tensions in the Middle East, will top the agenda.
“The aim for this meeting is to provide time for a more detailed, deeper discussion that goes beyond the usual format of bilateral meetings and the regular phone calls that they have,” the prime minister’s spokesperson said. “It’s also an opportunity for the UK and US to have a deeper strategic discussion before summits where we will be engaging with wider partners, for example, at Unga and the G20 coming up,” she added. Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, will be in London on Tuesday for a discussion with David Lammy, the foreign secretary, on the Middle East and Ukraine. He is also likely to see Starmer before his meeting with Biden. The Starmer-Biden meeting is taking place a fortnight after the UK diverged from the US by suspending some arms sales to Israel, saying there is a “clear risk” the equipment could be used to commit serious violations of international law. The US, which is Israel’s primary supplier of weapons, responded to the decision by saying that Britain had its own process to make assessments. • The headline of this article was amended on 10 September 2024 to more accurately reflect the story itself.