David Cameron has held talks with Donald Trump in Florida amid his push to shore up US support for Ukraine.
The Foreign Secretary met with the presumptive Republican presidential candidate on Monday ahead of his trip to Washington DC to appeal to Congress over a stalled package of aid.
In a statement on Monday, a Foreign Office spokesperson said: “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.”
On his visit to Washington, Lord Cameron will warn that success for Kyiv in defeating Russia is “vital for American and European security” as he urges lawmakers across the Atlantic to approve “urgent” further assistance for the country.
Lord Cameron will push for Ukraine to be given the resources needed to “hold the line” and “go on the offensive” in 2025, the Foreign Office said.
He will meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as well as Congressional leaders, who he will urge to “change the narrative” on support for Kyiv while a multibillion-dollar aid package remains held up on Capitol Hill.
He was expected to tell Mike Johnson, Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, to stop his colleagues from continuing to block the support amid opposition from hardliners aligned with Mr Trump.
It is the latest of several interventions made by Lord Cameron over the additional funding for Ukraine. Earlier this year, he warned Congress not to show “the weakness displayed against Hitler” in the 1930s.
His previous comments drew the ire of right-wing congresswoman and staunch Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene, who told him to “kiss my ass” and “worry about his own country”.
On his latest visit, Lord Cameron will hold talks with Mr Blinken and meet other key figures across Congress to call for them provide the extra 60 billion US dollars (more than £47.5 billion), the Foreign Office said.
He will say that nothing can match the pace and scale of US support, which remains “the keystone in the arch” in the fight for democracy, the department said.
In a statement on Monday, the Foreign Secretary said: “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.
“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.”
Talks will also focus on the Middle East, with the Foreign Secretary continuing to push for a “full, urgent and transparent” investigation into the deaths of of seven aid workers in Gaza.
He will say that the deaths of World Central Kitchen humanitarian workers are “completely unacceptable” and “major changes” need to be made to ensure the safety of aid workers on the ground.
It comes as Downing Street sought to insist the Government is “completely united” in its stance on Israel following the killings.
Divisions appeared to have emerged over the weekend with Lord Cameron taking a more strident approach to criticism than some of his colleagues, including Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden.
Mr Dowden suggested on Sunday that Israel is being held to an “incredibly high standard” compared with other nations and claimed there is “a bit of relish from some people about the way in which they are pushing this case against Israel”.
But on Monday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman denied there is a split, saying Lord Cameron’s and Mr Dowden’s words are “consistent” with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s.
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