UK prime minister Keir Starmer and US president Donald Trump held a press conference on Thursday at Chequers to mark the conclusion of the US president’s second state visit to Britain.
Mr Trump was visiting Mr Starmer’s country retreat on the final day of his state visit to the UK.
The press conference has covered issues ranging from the long-standing relationship between the UK and the US and the need to put pressure on Russian president Vladimir Putin in relation to the war in Ukraine.
Earlier on Thursday the two signed a US-UK tech deal .
Mr Trump’s visit has also been accompanied by the announcement of US investments in the UK worth €173 billion.
At a press conference, Mr Starmer said he had discussed with Mr Trump ways to increase defence support for Ukraine and increase pressure on Mr Putin to agree to a peace deal.
“We have discussed today how we can build our defences, further support Ukraine and decisively increase the pressure on Putin to get him to agree a peace deal that will last,” Mr Starmer told reporters.
Mr Starmer said he and Mr Trump “absolutely agree” on the need for an Israeli-Palestine peace “roadmap”, but the US president said he disagreed with countries recognising Palestine as a state.
“We absolutely agree on the need for peace and a road map, because the situation in Gaza is intolerable,” Mr Starmer told reporters after the two men held a bilateral meeting.
Asked about countries recognising a Palestinian state, Mr Trump said: “I have a disagreement with the prime minister on that score, one of our few disagreements, actually.”
Mr Trump has said he told Charlie Kirk he could be president one day and thanked the “many British citizens” who have offered their condolences.
Mr Kirk, a right-wing political activist, was shot dead in the US last week.
The US president said: “Just last week, a great American, Charlie Kirk, was heinously assassinated for speaking his mind. He was a great young man, incredible future.
“Some people said he might be president some day. I told him, I said: ‘Charlie, I think you have a good shot someday at being president’.
“And he just wanted to take care of youth, he loved youth. I’ve never seen anybody relate to youth like Charlie, and they related to him, and they’re devastated.
“I appreciate the many British citizens who have offered their condolences.”
“And, again, Charlie was a great person. We’ll be going out to a service on Sunday. I’ll be leaving with some of the people in this room just to celebrate Charlie and all that he’s done, so incredible. Never seen anything like it.”
Mr Starmer said Britain “fiercely” protects free speech, but he stressed there was a limit when that was used to incite real harms.
“Free speech is one of the founding values of the United Kingdom, and we protect it jealously and fiercely and always will,” Mr Starmer said.
“I draw a limit between free speech and the speech of those that want to peddle paedophilia and suicide social media to children, and therefore I’m all for free speech,” he said, adding that Britain has had “freedom of speech in this country for a very long time, and we will always protect it.”
