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8 months ago
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The UK's foreign secretary Lord David Cameron flew to Florida to meet former president Donald Trump last night, during his diplomatic tour of the US.
Cameron was due to sit down with the current Republican frontrunner at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, the Sun reported.
Cameron is the first senior member of the UK government to visit Trump since he left office in 2021.
Cameron has previously been disparaging of Trump in the past, calling him 'divisive, stupid and wrong' when he was Prime Minister in 2016.
He later accused the former president, who is facing several civil and criminal cases in courts across America, of being 'protectionist, xenophobic, [and] misogynistic.'
It is not currently known what the pair are set to discuss, but Cameron is currently in the US on an official trip to bolster support for Ukraine as the US' House of Representatives bicker over a massive $60billion military aid package, which the Senate, Congress' upper house, passed nearly two months ago
David Cameron was due to sit down with the current Republican frontrunner at his Mar-a-Lago resort
Cameron is the first senior member of the UK government to visit Trump (pictured) since he left office in 2021
But a minority of Republicans in the House of Representatives, led by Republican Speaker Mike Johnson, have repeatedly blocked it from being rubber stamped, claiming that the security of the US’s border with Mexico is deemed to be a more significant issue with the party’s supporters.
Their stance saw Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warn over the weekend that his country will lose the war if the funding is not swiftly approved.
Cameron is also set to meet the US' Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to lobby the Biden administration directly, as well as Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate.
He issued a fresh plea for the US to support Ukraine last night, saying: 'Success for Ukraine and failure for Putin are vital for American and European security.
'This will show that borders matter, that aggression doesn’t pay and that countries like Ukraine are free to choose their own future.
'The alternative would only encourage Putin in further attempts to re-draw European borders by force, and would be heard clearly in Beijing, Tehran and North Korea.
The US House of Representatives, which is led by Speaker Mike Johnson (pictured), has refused to pass the aid
US president Joe Biden managed to get the Senate to pass the aid
'US support for Ukraine has massively degraded the military capacity of a common adversary, Russia has lost half of its pre-invasion land combat power, and a quarter of its original Black Sea fleet, while creating jobs at home and strengthening the Western alliance and NATO.'
In recent months, the significant reduction in military aid from the US has forced Ukrainian troops on to the backfoot. They have been forced to concede territory to Putin’s soldiers who, along some stretches of the frontline, have outgunned them by a ratio of six shells to one.
However, the Republicans blocking the Ukraine funding have earned the support of Donald Trump. The former president, who could return to the White House in 2025, wants an end to the conflict even on Russia’s terms.
As the Mail has recently revealed, UK funding for Ukraine has dropped compared with European allies. German support is set to trump the UK threefold in 2024/25, which is also being outstripped by donations from Scandinavia.
A local resident walks through the ruins of a house destroyed by recent shelling, which local Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian military strike
A communal worker sits in a crater after missiles strike in Kharkiv
Lord Cameron’s visit will also add to the focus on the Middle East, including the path to a ceasefire in Gaza and increased humanitarian aid, as well as a push for an independent investigation into the deaths of seven aid workers, including three Britons, in a Israeli drone strike on an aid convoy.
The former prime minister's interventions haven't always been welcomed in the US, with hardline Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly telling Cameron to 'kiss my ass' after he pushed Congress to pass the aid package back in December.
A UK spokesperson said: 'The Foreign Secretary is on his way to Washington DC, where he will hold discussions with US Secretary of State Blinken, other Biden administration figures and members of Congress.
'His talks will focus on a range of shared US-UK priorities, including securing international support for Ukraine and bringing stability to the Middle East.
Ahead of his visit to Washington, the Foreign Secretary will meet former President Trump in Florida today. It is standard practice for ministers to meet with opposition candidates as part of their routine international engagement.'
English (US)