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Sir Keir Starmer sent his chief aide and national security adviser to meet senior members of Donald Trump's team earlier this month, as the UK works to forge closer ties with the incoming administration.
The Prime Minister sent Morgan McSweeney, his chief of staff in Downing Street, and Jonathan Powell, his national security adviser, to Florida and Washington for high-level talks.
The duo met with Susie Wiles, who will become White House chief of staff after Trump's inauguration next month, and Mike Waltz, his choice as the next head of the National Security Agency.
The talks focused on trade between the United Kingdom, the United States, Ukraine, the Middle East and China, according to Downing Street officials. They also addressed plans for Starmer to visit Washington shortly after Trump is sworn in as president on January 20.
Wells co-managed Trump's 2024 campaign this year, and the president-elect praised him on stage in his victory speech in November. It was also the first appointment to be revealed in the new administration.
Waltz, a Florida congressman and former US Army Special Forces officer, is a China hawk and described as a champion of “peace through strength.”
Starmer's efforts to foster closer ties with the United States, which included dining with Trump over the summer and speaking with the president-elect by phone on Wednesday, face several potential sticky flashpoints.
These include agreements concluded by the United Kingdom to cede sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in exchange for long-term control of a joint US-UK military base.
It is unclear whether the Chagos Islands arrangements emerged in conversations with Starmer's aides, or in the phone call on Wednesday. The deal was drafted by Starmer and the former Prime Minister of Mauritius, but fell into turmoil after the latter's successor was elected.
The proposed agreement, designed to secure the future of the important US military base at Diego Garcia, has drawn strong criticism from Trump's top allies, raising the possibility that he may seek to block the deal once in office.
Powell, a former Downing Street chief of staff to Sir Tony Blair, helped craft the deal after Starmer appointed him special envoy for negotiations over the Chagos Islands, shortly before his appointment to Britain's National Security Agency.
In their phone call on Wednesday, Starmer congratulated the US president-elect on his recent appointments to his team, while Trump discussed meeting the Prince of Wales in Paris earlier this month, according to No10.
The couple also discussed Ukraine and the Middle East. Downing Street added: “They both agreed in their shared ambition to strengthen the close and historic relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States.” He added that they look forward to working together on shared priorities, including international security and achieving economic growth and prosperity.
Starmer was not invited to Trump's inauguration in January, despite the president-elect breaking historical tradition by asking several foreign leaders to attend.
Trump took the unusual step of inviting Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, a sign that he intends to resume the high-level engagement that occurred between the two men during his first term.
The Telegraph first reported on McSweeney and Powell's transatlantic voyage, which began on 2 December.
