Keir Starmer still hasn’t spoken to President Donald Trump about the situation in Venezuela or US threats against Denmark – despite revealing on Saturday that he wanted to hold talks. Downing Street attempted to play down the snub, suggesting that more junior figures in the US and UK had been in contact.
But the Prime Minister said this weekend that he hoped to speak to the President, after US forces seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday. Along with his wife, Cilia Flores, Maduro is to face charges in the US including conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism and import cocaine.
Sir Keir has also criticised Mr Trump in comments to the British media after the President suggested he could annex Greenland, part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
It emerged today that the two leaders still have not spoken, and no discussion is likely until Tuesday at the earliest.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “We would set out any calls or conversations between the Prime Minister and other world leaders in the usual way.”
Pressed on why the pair have still not talked, the spokesman said: “It’s a fast moving situation and clearly there is engagement with the US .. at multiple levels and that continues.”
Mr Trump and Sir Keir could talk following a summit in Paris on Tuesday of the “coalition of the willing”, a group of mainly European nations planning to offer security guarantees to Ukraine if the Russian invasion ends.
However, the Prime Minister said on Saturday that he wanted to hold discussions with the President.
Asked by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg whether he backed the capture of Maduro, Sir Keir said in an interview recorded on Saturday and broadcast on Sunday: “We need to establish the full picture. I then need to speak to President Trump, I need to speak to our allies.”
The Prime Minister said: “I want to get all the material facts together, and we simply haven’t got the full picture at the moment. It’s fast moving, and we need to piece that together. I can be really clear with you that there was no UK involvement in this operation, and obviously we’re working in relation to British citizens and nationals who are there with our Embassy.”