Keir Starmer meets with Donald Trump for the first time since the US President made 'no Churchill' dig about the PM

By SAM MERRIMAN, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT Published: 23:00, 15 June 2026 | Updated: 23:02, 15 June 2026 Keir Starmer had his first meeting with Donald Trump since the US president aimed a series of barbed comments at the Prime Minister. The pair met at a gathering of G7 leaders in France on Monday as the row over defence spending threatened to overshadow Labour's plans for the summit. The US President - who branded Sir Keir 'no Churchill' - has called on all NATO countries to pull their own weight and increase defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP. But Sir Keir met Mr Trump and other world leaders to discuss global threats as serious questions remained over long-term funding for Britain's military. Under the still-unpublished Defence Investment Plan (Dip), defence spending is set to increase from 2.6 per cent of GDP next year to just 2.68 per cent in 2030. The row over defence spending led to the resignation of John Healey as defence secretary last week, who said the proposed uplift 'falls well short' of what is needed to protect Britain. However Sir Keir appears to be standing by the same £13.5billion settlement that led Mr Healey to quit - in a move that threatens to further strain relations with Mr Trump. Sir Keir met heads of state at the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains in the French Alps tonight, where he shook hands with leaders including President Macron of France and Mr Trump. Afterwards, world leaders gathered for a dinner. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, arrives for the leader's dinner during the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France Us President Donald Trump branded Sir Keir 'no Churchill' - has called on all NATO countries to pull their own weight and increase defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP Sir Keir sat next to President Trump at the G7 table alongside leaders from across the world Sir Keir and Mr Trump have not held a bilateral meeting since they fell out over the PM's refusal to let the US use British military bases to carry out strikes on Iran, and his decision not to send aircraft carriers to the Middle East. Relations were further strained recently after an intervention from vice president JD Vance prompted No 10 to criticise those seeking to 'interfere in our democracy'. Sir Keir is expected to have bilateral meetings with world leaders including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Indian PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday. But he is reportedly not scheduled to hold a one-to-one meeting with Mr Trump. The US president had a bilateral with Mr Macron on Monday night and he was due to hold one-on-ones with Middle East leaders at the summit. It was not clear if the Prime Minister had requested a bilateral with the US President. However, there will be ample opportunity for the two leaders to speak on the sidelines of the summit. Sir Keir's future as PM looks far from certain this week. If Andy Burnham wins Thursday's Makerfield by-election, as is now widely expected, he has vowed that he would trigger a formal leadership challenge. It came as Sir Keir is set to announce new sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine and an energy deal to help power Kyiv for the next two years through the supply of UK nuclear fuel. The UK is expected to be the first mover on sanctioning several Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) vessels moving banned Russian gas around the world to fund Putin's war. This package is expected to bring UK sanctioned shadow fleet vessels to more than 600. The new measures are also expected to expose and target a Russian state-linked network, involved in covertly procuring western technology for Russia's military, as well as targeting firms helping Russia to illegally move money around the world. Sir Keir said: 'We will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes and this announcement reinforces that. Putin should roll back his tanks, end his barbaric strikes, and come to the negotiating table.' The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.