Emmanuel Macron humiliated as Donald Trump personally greets Keir Starmer

US President Donald Trump personally greeted Sir Keir Starmer as the Prime Minister arrived at the White House today (Thursday) in an embarrassing moment for French President Emmanuel Macron.

When Mr Macron visited Washington on Tuesday, Mr Trump did not welcome his French counterpart and instead left the greeting to his Chief of Protocol, Monica Crowley.

But in an apparent sign the so-called 'Special Relationship' is alive and well, Mr Trump warmly greeted the Prime Minister with a warm handshake and made a thumbs up sign.

Asked if a peace deal could be achieved in Ukraine, Mr Trump said: "Yes, we can."

The pair then entered the White House, followed by Foreign Secretary David Lammy and the UK's ambassador to the US, Lord Mandelson.

It's expected the British PM will have to walk a political tightrope as he tries to balance the demands of Washington and Brussels, both on trade and Ukraine.

Ahead of his talks at the White House on Thursday, Sir Keir said Mr Trump can be trusted and understands that Russian President Mr Putin started the war in Ukraine.

The Prime Minister will hope the promise to increase defence spending to a 2.5% share of the economy from April 2027 helps persuade Mr Trump that European nations are serious about the security of their continent.

But a senior Trump administration official said while that was welcome, "President Trump does continue to urge our Nato allies to increase their spending even further toward 5%".

"We appreciate Prime Minister Starmer's leadership, also in his recent discussions committing British troops to help enforce peace once a deal is reached," the official said.

Sir Keir wants to act as a bridge between the US and European continental allies, and said he had been having "really intense discussions with our European partners, with Nato, with Ukraine, and obviously with US teams as well".

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders will meet for talks hosted by Sir Keir on Sunday following separate White House visits by both the Prime Minister and Ukrainian president.