LONDON — In almost every way, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will walk into the White House on Thursday as an alien in President Donald Trump’s MAGA universe: a former human rights lawyer, a onetime top prosecutor and, after vanquishing Conservatives in elections last summer, the United Kingdom’s most liberal leader in more than a decade.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday to address the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and bilateral trade ties, amid the U.S. leader’s tariff threats on Europe and demands that the continent rely less on Washington for its security.

Keir Starmer has clashed with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch at Prime Minister's Questions over the UK's planned increase in defence spending Badenoch queries how much the budget is actually increasing - Starmer says it's an extra £13.

British Finance Minister Rachel Reeves said on Tuesday that other European nations must follow in her country's footsteps and increase their defence spending. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced earlier he would increase annual defence spending to 2.

I can announce this government will begin the biggest sustained increase in defense spending since the end of the Cold War. And we will deliver our commitment to spend 2.5% of GDP on defense. But we will bring it forward so that we reach that level in 2027.