UK politics live: Starmer warned not to pull punches with Trump after ex-president says PM ‘very popular’

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The government should not “pull our punches” if they disagree with the American president, Labour MP Emily Thornberry has said.

Her comments come as Sir Keir met Donald Trump for the first time as the two sat down for a two-hour dinner meeting in New York.

Ms Thornberry, House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Donald Trump may be the president of the United States in a couple of months’ time so of course, it’s important to have meetings with him and to build a relationship with him.

“Whatever criticisms one may have of Donald Trump, the point is that the office of president is one that needs to be properly respected and the Americans are very close friends of ours.”

Ms Thornberry added: “I do think that if there are things the American president does or says that we disagree with, then we shouldn’t pull our punches.”

She also said Mr Trump must be “called out” for his “racist” remarks.

Following the meeting, the former president heaped praise on “very popular” Sir Kier.

“I actually think he’s very nice. He ran a great race, he did very well, it is very early, he is very popular,” he said.

Key Points

• ‘Gaza shames us all’ Sir Keir tells world leaders at UN
• Starmer admits mangling his words over ‘sausages’ blunder
• Donald Trump ‘needs to be called out’ on ‘racist’ comments, Labour MP says
• Starmer meets Donald Trump for first time at dinner meeting in New York
• Starmer to hold post-Brexit ‘reset’ talks with EU chiefs

Boris Johnson tried to persuade Harry to stay in UK with ‘manly pep talk’

Boris Johnson had a “manly pep talk” with the Duke of Sussex to try to persuade him not to leave the UK and move to the United States.

According to the then-prime minister, Downing Street and Buckingham Palace asked him to talk to Harry in January 2020, hours after his speech announcing that he and his wife Meghan planned to step away from royal life.

Mr Johnson writes in his forthcoming memoir that there was “a ridiculous business … when they made me try to persuade Harry to stay. Kind of manly pep talk. Totally hopeless”, The Daily Mail reported, ahead of a serialisation of the book.

The men met for 20 minutes on the sidelines of a UK-Africa investment summit in London’s Docklands, according to the newspaper.

Rachel Reeves could scrap non-dom tax raid, reports suggest

Read the full report below:

Rachel Reeves could scrap non-dom tax raid, reports suggest

Ms Reeves had hoped to raise about £1bn a year by cracking down on the tax perk available to super-rich

Cleverly hits back at Baroness Warsi comments

James Cleverly has hit back at Baroness Warsi after the party had launched an investigation into the peer as a result of tweets about a court case where a protester had held a sign using derogatory languages about Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman, suggesting they were “coconuts”.

For context, the former cabinet minister Sayeeda Warsi resigned the Conservative whip last night, saying the party had moved too far to the right from when she was in government.

In a post on X, Mr Cleverly said: ”You’re not properly black if you’re a Tory’ is a particularly pernicious attack.

“I’ve been called a coconut too many times to laugh it off. It hasn’t held me back or brought me down, but a Conservative peer not recognising the abuse of other black colleagues is unacceptable.”

Russell Findlay elected as leader of the Scottish Conservatives

Russell Findlay has been elected as the new leader of the Scottish Conservatives, beating Murdo Fraser and Meghan Gallacher.

The new leader won 2,565 votes, the party’s returning officer Leonard Wallace announced on Friday, with Murdo Fraser coming second with 1,187 votes and Meghan Gallacher in third with 403 votes.

The turnout was 60%, with Mr Wallace announcing the party has just shy of 7,000 members, 4,155 of whom voted in the leadership contest.

New leader of Scottish Conservatives to be announced

The leader of the Scottish Conservatives will be announced on Friday.

Russell Findlay, Murdo Fraser and Meghan Gallacher are on the ballot paper, with one of the three set to take over from Douglas Ross in Holyrood.

The field narrowed from six to three after Brian Whittle, Jamie Greene and Liam Kerr dropped their bid for the top job.

Polls closed for Scottish Tory members – of which there are believed to be around 7,000 – at noon on Thursday, with the result due to be announced at around 10am on Friday.

Full report: Trump heaps praise on ‘very popular’ Keir Starmer as pair meet in New York

Read the full report from my colleague Alexander Butler below:

Trump heaps praise on ‘very popular’ Starmer as pair meet in New York

Republican describes Sir Keir as ‘very nice’ at a press conference ahead of talks on Thursday

Ground invasion by Israel could favour Hezbollah, Foreign Affairs Committee chair warns

The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman has warned a ground invasion by Israel into Lebanon could favour Hezbollah and its legitimacy.

Asked about escalating conflict in the Middle East, Emily Thornberry told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think that we need to be aware that we have perhaps more clout than we have done recently, and I think we’re in a fairly unique position, so… we are in a position to be able to pull people together.

“I think that the UN General Assembly meeting at this time means that I think that many other nations can be pulled behind the declaration that has been made, and that will make it stronger.

“We don’t know whether or not Israel is bluffing about a ground war. We do know that in 2006 that they got very bogged down, that at the moment they may be ahead because they’re using air power and surprise, but a ground war may well be different.

“And actually, the poor Lebanese, who you know many of whom do not want Hezbollah in the bottom of their country, certainly don’t want to have the Israelis. And Hezbollah may well end up with more legitimacy as a result of that ground invasion.”

Starmer admits mangling his words over ‘sausages’ blunder

Sir Keir Starmer has said he was prepared to be mocked over the “sausages” gaffe in his Labour conference speech.

The prime minister butchered a call for Hamas to release the hostages in Gaza, instead demanding “the return of the sausages” before swiftly correcting himself.

Asked about the mistake he told reporters: “I just mangled the beginning of the word.”

He added: “These things are there to give you all the opportunity to rib me.”

The blunder in his conference speech on Tuesday was swiftly picked up on social media.

The Conservatives posted on X: “Keir Starmer uses his first big speech as Prime Minister to call for the return of the sausages.”

US president hopeful Donald Trump ‘needs to be called out’ on ‘racist’ comments, Labour MP says

US president hopeful Donald Trump “needs to be called out” if he starts “caging Mexican children”, should he win the stateside election in November, Emily Thornberry has said.

Asked about remarks Ms Thornberry made in 2019, when she alleged Mr Trump had “grabbed women and boasted about it” and “tried to close borders with Muslim-majority countries”, the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman replied: “If he’s president and he starts caging Mexican children, then that needs to be called out.”

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Ms Thornberry earlier said: “We are actually in a really strong position now, in that if you think about all the other G7 countries, we are a country that we have just had an election, we have a progressive Government with a large majority and stability in front of us – a good five years of the same leader.

“And if you look at the other G7 countries, they don’t necessarily have that.”

On whether Mr Trump should be labelled a “racist”, Ms Thornberry said: “It depends how he is behaving. I mean, he seems – he styles it out somewhat, doesn’t he, these allegations? I mean, you know, we hear about the dogs and cats and so on just a few weeks ago.”

In a reference to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s meeting with Mr Trump, she added: “If I was at dinner with someone who said things like that, then I would call it out. But I don’t imagine that the conversation moved on to things like that at that dinner.”

UK leaders ‘shouldn’t pull our punches’ if they disagree with the US president, MP says

UK leaders “shouldn’t pull our punches” if they disagree with the American president, Emily Thornberry has said after Sir Keir Starmer met with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Ms Thornberry, House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Donald Trump may be the president of the United States in a couple of months’ time so of course, it’s important to have meetings with him and to build a relationship with him.

“Whatever criticisms one may have of Donald Trump, the point is that the office of president is one that needs to be properly respected and the Americans are very close friends of ours.”

The Labour politician added: “I think that this is an initial meeting, so there needs to be a certain amount of relationship building and we take it from there.

“I do think that if there are things the American president does or says that we disagree with, then we shouldn’t pull our punches.”

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