Starmer ‘playing whack-a-mole’ to keep US on side – but will it be enough?

Keir Starmer flies out of South Africa this evening with two massive issues on his agenda – a potentially manifesto-busting budget and, as it stands, an unacceptable Ukrainian peace deal.

As he prepared to depart for London, the prime minister confirmed he was dispatching national security adviser Jonathan Powell to Geneva for talks with US officials, other European security advisers and Ukrainian representatives – as Europe and Ukraine scramble to reinsert themselves into a plan drawn up between Washington and Moscow.

The prime minister said on Saturday there was “more to do on the plan” in the coming days and the focus now was to try to make progress in Geneva.

Follow the latest: European leaders raise concerns over plan for Ukraine

After speaking on the phone to Donald Trump, Downing Street said the pair agreed their teams would work together on the US leader’s proposal in the Swiss city on Sunday.

Starmer also reiterated Britain’s “steadfast support for Ukraine” in a call with President Zelenskyy – as allies try to swing this deal more in Ukraine‘s favour, with the UK and other international leaders clear on their concerns to limit the size of the Ukrainian army and give up territory to Russia.

But in his remarks on camera, the prime minister was at pains to neither criticise the current deal nor President Trump.

One figure told me that the PM wants to act as a bridge between the Europeans and the US and has been playing a “game of whack-a-mole” over the past couple of days in an effort to keep others from publicly saying the deal is unacceptable for fear it would only serve to irritate President Trump and hurt Ukraine.

Earlier, the prime minister said he would talk to his US counterpart in the coming days.

“I’m absolutely clear in my mind that President Trump wants a just and lasting peace, not just from the actions he’s taken towards that end, but also from the private discussions that I’ve had with him,” Mr Starmer said.

“So I know what he’s trying to achieve. We all want to achieve that.”

But there will be a question about what the alternative options are if allies cannot improve this deal by President Trump’s Thursday deadline.

The first option is to try to improve it and also slow down the process and buy more time, but if that fails, are allies looking at scenarios where they try to shore up Ukraine’s war efforts without the US support?

The prime minister responded by talking about point five in the 28-point plan, in which Ukraine is offered security guarantees from the US.

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“That fortifies in me the belief that what we’re all trying to achieve here is a just and lasting peace will only be just as lasting if there are security guarantees,” Mr Starmer said.

“And if we bear in mind that matters for Ukraine are always to be determined by Ukraine.”

The next 24 hours will be critical as the Europeans, Ukraine and other allies try to improve this deal.