Asked if the PM was hiking defence spending to prepare for his meeting with Trump, his official spokesperson said: "The prime minister reflected on his recent discussions with allies across Nato and Europe, including several conversations he's had with President Zelensky recently, he spoke to President Macron, the Secretary General of Nato recently and a number of allies across Europe - and discussions on Ukraine have been moving at pace over recent over recent days and weeks.
Keir Starmer has announced he will cut the foreign aid budget in order to hike defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP just a day before he jets to Washington for a crunch meeting with Donald Trump.
The move, which he said he was not “happy” with, will allow him to meet the defence spending target by the same year, he said, as he also unveiled a new target to spend 3% of GDP by 2034.
Labour PM cuts foreign aid funding as he prepares to fly to Washington to meet the US President who has piled pressure on Britain to bolster its armed forces.
Sir Keir said he would fund the increase in defence spending by slashing funding for overseas aid from 0.5% of national income to 0.3% by 2027.
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