FARNBOROUGH, England — The U.K.’s Labour government will work with whoever wins the U.S. race for the White House, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday.
Opening the Farnborough International Airshow at the start of the third week of his tenure as prime minister, Starmer declined to offer direct support for U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, after she declared on Sunday that she would run to succeed President Joe Biden.
“Obviously in the first instance, it’s for the Democratic party to decide who they want to put forward,” said Starmer. “It’s then for the American people to decide who they want for their president” in the November U.S. election.
“My approach will be to respect that decision-making, and to be clear we will work with whoever the American people elect into office,” Starmer said.
In his remarks, Starmer praised Biden for putting defense at the center of his term in the White House, adding we “live in a dangerous, volatile and increasingly insecure world.”
“I respect the decision that he has now made,” Starmer said of Biden announcement that he would no longer seek reelection and endorsed Harris to be the Democratic nominee. “Not an easy decision, but a decision that he would have arrived at taking into account the best interests of the American people,” said Starmer.
The Farnborough show starts just days after Starmer commissioned a strategic review into defense spending which is slated to report back next year.
In the midst of reports that the GCAP fighter jet program with Italy and Japan, called Tempest in the U.K., could be scrapped, Starmer said the project was “important.” He added that a ministerial meeting would take place this week to discuss the program.
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