Keir Starmer cosies up to Joe Biden ahead of NATO summit with four-word compliment (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir Starmer has come out in support of Joe Biden ahead of the NATO summit as he issued a four-word compliment to the US President.
The newly-elected Prime Minister of the UK brushed off that his plans to force peers to retire at the age of 80 meant Joe Biden was too old to remain in office.
This comes as Mr. Biden, 81, faces increasing pressure to step down as the Democratic nominee following a shaky performance in an election debate with Donald Trump.
Sir Keir, who is all set to meet Mr Biden for the first time at a NATO summit in Washington on Wednesday, has promised to make members of the Lords retire at the age of 80.
Asked whether this age restriction should be applied “across the board”, the Prime Minister said his plans “did not reflect on how other elected representatives are chosen in other countries”.
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The US president, who is 81, has been facing calls to quit as the Democratic nominee (Image: Getty)
He said: “In terms of the age in the House of Lords, the simple fact is that our House of Lords is massive. It’s the second biggest political chamber in the world.
“I think it’s only the Chinese who have a bigger political chamber than our House of Lords – we have to reduce it.
“That is the primary driver of the retirement at 80. You can see why that needs to be done. We have got 800-plus members of the House of Lords, it’s simply too big.
“So it doesn’t reflect on how other elected representatives are chosen in other countries – it’s to do with the size of the House of Lords.”
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On Wednesday, President Joe Biden nearly made a significant gaffe during a speech commemorating 75 years of NATO when he seemed to read out stage directions from the teleprompter.
The Democrat politician was left staring at the teleprompter as he uttered the words "ask the military aide", seemingly reading out stage instructions rather than his speech.
He then attempted to right himself and said "ask the military aide", before he welcomed Stoltenberg, NATO's highest-ranking official, to the stage.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir is scheduled to meet with the embattled US President during a NATO summit on Wednesday.
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When asked what he wanted to get out of the meeting, he said: “I have already had a phone call with President Biden. I want to follow up on that – this is obviously a very special relationship we have between the UK and the US.
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“We have, within that, a special aspect when it comes to defence and security for obvious reasons including our commitment to NATO.
"We make a unique contribution in Europe to NATO, and therefore it’s a very good opportunity for me to talk to the president about how we take forward the important work at this summit.”
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