British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, right, and Foreign Secretary David Lammy attend a welcome reception at the Britain's ambassador's residence on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Carl Co

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday he would increase annual defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 and target a 3% level last seen just after the Cold War, a signal to U.S. President Donald Trump that Britain can boost Europe's security.

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, center, and Palantir Technologies CEO Alex Karp, right, tour Palantir headquarters Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, in Washington. (/Pool Photo via AP)

King Charles has invited President Trump for a state visit to the United Kingdom, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the president during their meeting in Washington on Thursday. Starmer

Starmer’s goals for his trip were to persuade Donald Trump to provide Ukraine with security guarantees in any peace deal and head off duties on British goods while pursuing a rapport with an unpredictable U.

For technical reasons, we're moving our live coverage of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's dramatic visit to the White House to a new page - so click this link to stay with us. There are plenty of updates and analysis on the way.

Their meeting this afternoon comes a day after Trump hosted UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House Last week, US President Donald Trump made headlines by calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a "dictator" in a social media post.

Keir Starmer is in the air on the way to Washington, where tomorrow he will have his crunch meeting with Donald Trump. The stakes couldn’t possibly be higher.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer brushed aside growing tensions between the White House and Europe over Ukraine on Wednesday, saying he trusted Donald Trump and wanted the "special relationship" to go "from strength to strength".

Watch live as Sir Keir Starmer arrives to hold crunch talks with Donald Trump in Washington DC on Thursday (27 February). The UK Prime Minister is visiting Washington to push reluctant Donald Trump to provide a US “backstop” to prevent Vladimir Putin launching a fresh assault on Ukraine after any peace deal.