How should Keir Starmer handle Donald Trump?

Keir Starmer and Donald Trump have their first face-to-face meeting since the US elections in November this week – the "biggest test yet" of the prime minister's diplomatic skills, according to The i Paper.

Ukraine is expected to dominate the discussions, with Starmer stressing the importance of the country's sovereignty and the need for continued US support. UK increases in defence spending, along with trade tariffs and the Middle East, are also reportedly on the agenda.

This will be their third meeting – their first was last September, when they enjoyed a "convivial two-hour dinner", said The Guardian – and comes weeks after Trump declared he liked Starmer "a lot". But with the US President's change in tack on Ukraine, their previous relationship may no longer be enough.

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What did the commentators say?

Starmer must "put himself inside the president's head" so that when Trump considers something, he thinks: "What will Keir think about that?", former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell told the Bylines Network podcast. That will be a "challenge" for a man who is very different to the type of leader Trump admires, he added.

Starmer's team know the meeting will be as much about psychology as strategy or diplomacy, reported The Times. The President's "love of the deal" means he will want to come out a winner, with a gain for the US from the talks.

Plans to deploy UK troops in Ukraine will already have been a good "downpayment" for the "famously transactional president", said the BBC. But Starmer's main argument must be the risk a hasty peace deal would pose to Trump's reputation and convincing him that a short-lived ceasefire "would be against his own interests".

Kim Darroch, Britain's ambassador to the US during Trump's first term in office, also called on the prime minister to appeal to Trump's ego, telling The New York Times that Starmer should "play to Trump's vision of himself as peacemaker".

And an unexpected source of advice for the PM was Nigel Farage, who told The Telegraph that Starmer should be "straightforward" with Trump as the President was "sharp as hell".

Flattery would be good, too, the Reform UK leader added, suggesting as a good opening line: "'My god, you've hit the ground running,' or something like that."

What next?

Starmer is going to the White House "bearing gifts", said Sky News. This will not only include his plans to increase defence spending – announced "several months earlier than planned" – but also a reported invitation for a state visit to the UK issued by the King himself.

He will also be arriving with a "large goodie bag marked 'more defence spending'", agreed the BBC. It will be a sign that he has listened to Trump and could "get his foot in the door at the White House".

Whether that will be enough to persuade the President to change tack on Ukraine, however, is "not clear cut".