New York, New York - Donald Trump met British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday during the Labour leader's visit to New York.

Starmer was at Trump Tower for talks ahead of November's election.

"I'm a great believer in personal relationships on the world stage," the prime minister said, explaining why he wanted to meet Trump face-to-face.

The encounter has the potential to be diplomatically awkward, not just because of Trump's far-right politics, but also because Starmer has not been able to schedule a similar appointment with Democratic candidate and US Vice President Kamala Harris.

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The UK's foreign secretary, David Lammy – who called Trump a "racist KKK and Nazi sympathizer" in 2017 and promised to protest on the streets if he visited the UK – was also attending the Trump Tower meeting.

Speaking at a press conference before they met, Trump called Starmer "very nice," before adding: "He ran a great race, he did very well, it's very early, he's very popular."

The 78-year-old saved his more lavish praise for his old friend, the far-right Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.

"I think Nigel is great, I've known him for a long time," he said. "He had a great election too, picked up a lot of seats, more seats than he was allowed to have, actually. They acknowledged that he won, but for some reason you have a strange system over there, you might win them, but you don't get them."

Starmer said the UK embassy team, led by ambassador Karen Pierce, "has got good relations with both camps and has had for a long time."

"So it's not the sort of start of something, it's the continuation of those good relations that have been there with both camps, and that's a really good thing that the embassy has been doing."

Asked whether he would be prepared to stand up to Trump on issues such as
support for Ukraine, Starmer said: "The first thing I think is important to
say in relation to this is we've obviously had a special relationship with the
US for a long time, forged in really difficult circumstances."

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"That always sits above whoever holds the particular office, either in the US or the UK," he insisted.

"I think it's probably as strong now as it's ever been, in relation to the Middle East and Ukraine."

"And you've seen how closely I've been working with the US in relation to both of those issues."

"The US people will decide who they want as their president, and we will work with whoever is president, as you would expect."