Keir Starmer will meet Joe Biden for the first time since the US president announced he would not run for re-election. The prime minister’s visit to the White House – Starmer’s second since taking office – will take place next Friday . His first visit took place at the Nato summit days after Labour won the election, when questions were raging about the US president’s age and health and Starmer described him as being “on good form”. Since then the vice-president, Kamala Harris, has been formally chosen as the Democratic nominee.
A statement from the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said the leaders would have “an in-depth discussion on a range of global issues of mutual interest”. “Robust support to Ukraine in its defence against Russian aggression” will be on the agenda, as well as the need to secure a hostage release and ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza. The two leaders will also discuss the protection of international shipping in the Red Sea from Iranian-backed Houthi threats, advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific and “opportunities to strengthen US-UK cooperation to secure supply chains and increase climate resilience”. No meetings have been announced between Starmer and Harris, although it is likely she will attend the prime minister’s bilateral meeting with Biden. It is also not known whether Starmer will meet the Republican nominee, Donald Trump. No plans have been made public, but there is precedent for such a meeting as David Cameron met the Republican nominee Mitt Romney in 2012. Starmer tweeted his best wishes to Trump in July after an assassination attempt was made on the former president’s life and called him to condemn the attack. In the meeting with Starmer, “President Biden will underscore the importance of continuing to strengthen the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom”, according to the statement. In recent weeks, Starmer has visited Berlin and Paris as he seeks to reset the UK’s relationship with European leaders. On Saturday, he will travel to Dublin to meet the Irish taoiseach, Simon Harris, in what will be the first official visit to Ireland by a UK prime minister in five years. Starmer is seeking to deepen the UK’s “collaboration” with Ireland and reset British-Irish relations after his election in July. Exports and imports across the Irish sea – a trade relationship worth almost £90bn – is expected to be top of the agenda for the two leaders. Starmer said he and the taoiseach were “in lockstep about the future”, adding: “The UK and Ireland share the strongest of ties – through our close geography, shared culture and the friendships of our people. “Our relationship has never reached its full potential, but I want to change that. “We have a clear opportunity to go further and faster to make sure our partnership is fully delivering on behalf of the British and Irish people – driving growth and prosperity in both our countries. “The taoiseach and I are in lockstep about our future, and we look forward to deepening our collaboration further.”