UK international secretary David Cameron held a gathering with Donald Trump in Florida earlier than he met high Biden officers in Washington, DC throughout his US journey.
Lord Cameron is visiting the US to press Congress to cross the blocked support bundle for Ukraine. He can even talk about Israel’s battle in Gaza on Tuesday.
It was the primary assembly between a senior British minister and the previous Republican president since he left workplace in 2021. However, the Foreign Office appeared to downplay the importance of their assembly with Mr Trump, who’s in search of to return to the Oval Office with the elections in November.
“It is standard practice for ministers to meet with opposition candidates as part of their routine international engagement,” the spokesperson stated.
The international secretary flew to Florida on Monday evening to satisfy Mr Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence whereas Republican lawmakers in Congress have been blocking a $60bn (over £47.5bn) navy support bundle for Ukraine amid its two-year-long battle with Russia.
Lord Cameron will maintain talks with US secretary of state Antony Blinken and key figures throughout Congress on Tuesday to name them to “change the narrative on Ukraine this year” and launch the funding.
He will inform the American leaders that the “success for Ukraine and failure for [Vladimir] Putin are vital for American and European security”.
“This will show that borders matter, that aggression doesn’t pay and that countries like Ukraine are free to choose their own future,” the Foreign Office stated.
Mr Trump and different Republicans throughout the US Congress have blocked the newest tranche of the bundle to Ukraine for months. The Republicans within the House of Representatives have demanded concessions on border safety earlier than supporting the invoice.
The former president, who has claimed he would finish the battle in Ukraine “in one day”, pledged to chop assist to Ukraine and push it into negotiations if he gained a second time period.
The go to comes because the British international secretary has beforehand criticised Mr Trump and angered firebrand Trump loyalist Marjorie Taylor-Greene, who responded to him by saying the international secretary can “kiss my a**”.
In 2015, Mr Cameron described the previous Republican president’s “Muslim ban” journey coverage as “divisive, stupid and wrong” and criticised his disagreement with Ukraine support as “not a sensible approach”.
Ms Taylor-Greene’s response got here to an article penned by Lord Cameron, cautioning the US towards mirroring “the weakness displayed against Hitler in the 1930s”.
The Foreign Office stated the talks with Mr Blinken and different Biden administration officers can even give attention to the ceasefire in Gaza and the supply of larger portions of support.
He can even “push for a full, urgent, and transparent investigation into the terrible events in Gaza” after the “completely unacceptable” deaths of three British males working for support organisation World Central Kitchen within the Israeli drone strike.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-cameron-meets-trump-ukraine-gaza-war-b2525477.html