(Alliance News) - Keir Starmer spoke to Donald Trump about the need to secure a lasting peace in Ukraine just hours before the White House paused military aid to Kyiv.
Downing Street revealed on Tuesday that the UK prime minister and the US president spoke on Monday night.
At around midnight reports emerged from Washington indicating Trump was halting the flow of arms to Volodymyr Zelensky's country in the latest sign of tensions between the US and Ukrainian presidents.
Downing Street said the conversation had focused on "progress towards securing a lasting peace in Ukraine".
The conversation on Monday night followed to phone calls with Trump over the weekend and the prime minister's visit to Washington last week.
Ministers insisted Starmer would not be "blindsided or bounced" by Trump's actions over Ukraine.
The White House suspended delivery of ammunition and other equipment to Kyiv, announcing overnight that assistance is being "reviewed" to "ensure that it is contributing to a solution".
It comes after a clash in the Oval Office between Zelensky and the US leader last Friday left bilateral ties between the two nations in tatters.
Speaking on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said Starmer remains "laser-focused" on securing a lasting peace for Kyiv and would not be "derailed" in those efforts.
"We are absolutely focused on making sure that we get that peace and the security guarantees as part of that," she said.
"We won't be derailed or sidelined by commentary, ongoing commentary, but that we will use our relationship, our long-standing relationship, with the US and our European allies to support Ukraine and President Zelensky in getting that peace deal and making sure those securities are part of that."
Allies led by Britain and France have spent recent days scrambling to find a way forward following the row, which ended with Zelensky leaving the White House empty-handed despite plans to sign a minerals deal with the US.
The prime minister's own trip to Washington last week appeared to have gone as well as No 10 could have hoped, with Trump indicating he would not block the Chagos Islands deal and suggesting a trade agreement could spare British exports from US tariffs.
He is seeking to act as a bridge between America and Europe in efforts to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine amid fears that Kyiv and its allies will continue to be excluded from negotiations over its future after Trump opened talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Rayner denied the government is acting as if it is "business as usual", telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's a very serious moment and I think the prime minister has been very serious about the way he has conducted himself."
Rayner added: "He's laser-focused on getting peace.
"He won't be derailed by announcements. He will continue that dialogue with our oldest and strongest ally, the US, and with European partners and with Ukraine."
Rayner told ITV's Good Morning Britain that the halt in military aid was "a matter for the US president" but the UK would be an "honest broker", working with both the White House and European allies.
"We won't be blindsided or bounced from the focus of getting peace for Ukraine with those security guarantees," she said.
Earlier on Tuesday, US vice president JD Vance also heightened his criticism of the Ukrainian president, accusing him of "needling" Trump and having a "certain sense of entitlement".
"He showed a clear unwillingness to engage in the peace process that President Trump said is the policy," he told Fox News.
"That's the real breakdown. I think Zelensky wasn't yet there. And, frankly, still isn't there. But I think he'll get there eventually, he has to."
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the UK and Europe must "rearm faster" following the "profoundly worrying" US announcement.
She said: "The news overnight that America is halting military aid to Ukraine is profoundly worrying.
"It is clear that Britain and Europe must rearm much faster if we want to provide Ukraine with more than just warm words of support.
"We must work to keep America in, and Russia out."
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey appeared to suggest the White House decision had humiliated figures like Starmer, who has been insisting there is common ground between the UK and US in the pursuit of peace.
"By suspending all military aid to Ukraine, Donald Trump has humiliated the people who pretended he was a reliable ally only in search of peace," he said.
Meanwhile, Tory MP and former minister Graham Stuart said it was time to consider whether the US president was a Russian asset, adding: "If so, Trump's acquisition is the crowning achievement of Putin's FSB career – and Europe is on its own."
Malcolm Chambers, deputy director general at defence think tank the Royal United Services Institute, said: "The nightmare scenario is that the US announces a deal soon that accepts most of Russia's demands, and then tells Ukraine to 'take it or leave it'.
"The European offer of 'boots on the ground' after a deal has helped reassure Ukraine.
"But the debate has now moved on. And what will count most of all is how far the UK and Europe are prepared to help Ukraine in defiance of the US."
By David Hughes, Nina Lloyd and Helen Corbett
Press Association: News
source: PA
Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
