Donald Trump and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron discussed Ukraine, the elections on both sides of the Atlantic and their shared admiration for Queen Elizabeth II during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Monday evening, the Trump campaign said.
European leaders are desperate for more help for Ukrainian forces fighting Russian invaders and have identified Trump as key to undoing Republican support.
But at the same time, the British government is believed to be keen to build relations with the man who may become the next US president after being surprised by his 2016 victory.
They were joined at the dinner by British Ambassador Dame Karen Pierce.
An insider said it was ‘warm’ and ‘productive’.
Donald Trump and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron discussed Ukraine, the elections on both sides of the Atlantic and their shared admiration for Queen Elizabeth II during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Monday evening, the Trump campaign said
The two had dinner at Trump’s Florida home and at the Mar-a-Lago political base
“Among the topics discussed were the upcoming US and UK elections, policy issues specific to Brexit, the need for NATO countries to meet their defense spending and ending the killings in Ukraine,” Trump said campaign in a reading of the meeting.
“President Trump, Secretary Cameron and Ambassador Pierce also discussed their mutual admiration for the late Queen Elizabeth II.”
Trump is known to be a big fan of the late queen and has regularly praised her.
But the dinner raised questions about the protocol of a British foreign secretary meeting a former president before meeting Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington, DC.
British officials avoided any controversy by pointing reporters to previous examples when ministers met opposition leaders.
They pointed out that the leader of Britain’s opposition Labor Party, Sir Keir Starmer, met Blinken in February.
“This meeting follows standard practice for consultations between ministers and opposition candidates from partner countries,” the source said.
Cameron also dismissed the question at the press conference after meeting with Blinken on Tuesday.
“This was entirely in line with the precedent of ministers speaking to opposition politicians in the run-up to the election,” he said.
The couple discussed their admiration for the late queen, according to Trump’s campaign speech
“I remember as Prime Minister I met Mitt Romney when he was a candidate. I remember Gordon Brown meeting Barack Obama when he was a candidate.”
He gave no further details about what he said was a “private meeting.”
Officials are also keen to avoid a repeat of 2016, when the British government had to scramble to build relations with the Trump administration after its shock victory.
Diplomats used former Governor Chris Christie as a communications tool, but he was dumped out during a power struggle with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner before the new administration took power.
It meant that British officials ended up using Sebastian Gorka as their favorite Trump insider. He was born in Britain but was only a marginal figure in the government.
A major sticking point in sending aid to Ukraine is Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. In February, she mocked Cameron’s claim that not funding Ukraine was akin to appeasement of Adolf Hitler in the run-up to World War II.
A local resident walks through the ruins of a house destroyed by recent shelling, which local Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian military attack
Afterwards, insiders admitted that they were simply not prepared for Trump’s election victory.
Cameron met with Blinken on Tuesday morning and was also expected to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
However, he is not expected to meet House Speaker Mike Johnson, a key figure in introducing a bill to send more aid to Ukraine.
A British official said their diaries did not “line up.”
Cameron said he did not come to Washington to tell US lawmakers what to do.
‘I always do this with great trepidation. It is not for foreign politicians to tell lawmakers in another country what to do,” he said.
“It is simply because I am so passionate about the importance of defending Ukraine against this aggression that I believe it is absolutely in the interests of American security that Putin fail in his illegal invasion.”
Johnson will almost certainly face a leadership challenge if he introduces a bill amid opposition from Trump allies like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.