Keir Starmer’s aides held talks with Donald Trump’s team on US trip

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Sir Keir Starmer sent his most senior aide and national security adviser to meet top members of Donald Trump’s team earlier this month, as the UK works to forge closer ties with the incoming administration.

The prime minister dispatched Morgan McSweeney, his Downing Street chief of staff, and Jonathan Powell, his national security adviser (NSA), to Florida and Washington for high-level talks.

The pair met Susie Wiles, who will be the White House chief of staff after Trump’s inauguration next month, and Mike Waltz, the incoming president’s pick as NSA.

The talks focused on UK-US trade, Ukraine, the Middle East and China, according to Downing Street officials. They also covered plans for Starmer to visit Washington soon after Trump is sworn in as president on January 20.

Wiles co-ran the Trump 2024 campaign this year, and was praised by the president-elect on stage in his victory speech in November. She was also the first appointment to the new administration to be unveiled.

Waltz, a Florida congressman and former US Army Special Forces officer, is a China hawk and has been touted as a champion of “peace through strength”.

Starmer’s efforts to foster closer links with the US, which included dining with Trump over the summer and talking to the president-elect on the phone on Wednesday, face several potential difficult flashpoints.

These include the UK’s deal to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in exchange for long-term control over a joint US-UK military base.

It is unclear whether the Chagos Islands arrangement featured in the talks with Starmer’s aides, or in Wednesday’s phone call. The draft deal had been drawn up by Starmer and the previous prime minister of Mauritius, but was plunged into turmoil following the election of the latter’s successor.

The proposed agreement, which was designed to secure the future of a crucial US military base on Diego Garcia, has also elicited strong criticism from senior Trump allies, raising the prospect he may seek to block the deal once in office.

Powell, a former Downing Street chief of staff to Sir Tony Blair, helped forge the deal after Starmer made him a special envoy on the negotiations over the Chagos Islands, shortly before he was appointed the UK’s NSA.

In their phone call on Wednesday, Starmer congratulated the US president-elect on his recent team appointments, while Trump discussed meeting the Prince of Wales in Paris earlier this month, according to No 10.

The pair also discussed Ukraine and the Middle East. “Both agreed on their joint ambition to strengthen the close and historic relationship between the UK and the US,” added Downing Street. “They looked forward to working together on shared priorities, including international security and delivering economic growth and prosperity.”

Starmer has not been invited to Trump’s inauguration in January, despite the president-elect breaking historical convention by asking several foreign leaders to attend.

Trump made the unusual move of extending an invitation to Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, a signal that he intends to resume the high-level engagement that occurred between the two men during his first term.

McSweeney and Powell’s transatlantic trip, which began on December 2, was first reported by The Telegraph newspaper.