Sir Keir Starmer’s first week as prime minister provided several “pinch yourself” moments. As he was whisked from one meeting to another at the Nato summit he told aides: “This time last week I was in a B&B in Carmarthen, now I’m in a prime ministerial motorcade driving down the streets of Washington DC.”
His team were pinching themselves too when the prime minister sat down with President Biden in the Oval Office for a “pool spray” — the American term for the photo opportunity at the beginning of a meeting. This is usually an occasion for nodding and pleasantries, but Biden went further: “I kind of see you guys as the knot tying the transatlantic alliance together, the closer you are with Europe.”
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