Prime minister to be questioned on economy, public services and global affairs as No 10 says he spoke to Trump on the phone on WednesdayGood morning. It is the last day the House of Commons is sitting before the Christmas recess, and the main event will be in a committee room in Portcullis House where Keir Starmer will have his first question session with the liaison committee, the prefects’ club comprising the chairs of all the other Commons select committees. For 90 minutes he will take questions on the economy, public services and global affairs from MPs who know their subjects pretty well. Most of them are Labour MPs, but they include people who have only become select committee chairs because, despite serving on the front bench before the election, they were not appointed ministers, and so it is wrong to assume they are all Starmer loyalists. In theory, 90 minutes of intelligent questioning with the PM should produce a decent amount of news. In the past liaison committee hearings have often failed to get much beyond a rehash of familiar No 10 lines to take, but we live in hope.Relations with the US are almost certain to come up, and Starmer may be asked about an overnight story that suggests Starmer is firming up links with the incoming Donald Trump administration. Yesterday Starmer and Trump spoke on the phone. In its readout, No 10 says:The prime minister began by congratulating President-elect Trump on his recent team appointments and President-elect Trump warmly recounted his meeting with His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales in Paris earlier this month.Both agreed on their joint ambition to strengthen the close and historic relationship between the UK and the US. They looked forward to working together on shared priorities, including international security and delivering economic growth and prosperity.Morgan McSweeney travelled to Florida to meet Susie Wiles, the political strategist who masterminded Mr Trump’s re-election campaign and will be his chief of staff in office.Mr McSweeney also had policy discussions in Washington with Mike Waltz, the congressman who has been named as Mr Trump’s next national security adviser.The mood music was very warm. President Trump is nothing but warm about the UK.As the year closes, Team Starmer is confident the UK is in a good position for a strong bilateral relationship with the new presidency. Continue reading…
Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/dec/19/keir-starmer-questions-liaison-committee-donald-trump-administration-uk-politics-latest-updates
Author : Andrew Sparrow
Publish date : 2024-12-19 09:28:18
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Starmer to take questions from liaison committee as No 10 firms up links with incoming Trump administration – UK politics live
