TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Britain’s top diplomat is meeting with former President Donald Trump in Florida on Monday as part of a push to reaffirm support for Ukraine.
David Cameron, the United Kingdom foreign secretary, is visiting Trump on the eve of a planned trip to Washington, D.C., where the former British prime minister is scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and congressional leaders over the next two days. Cameron is set to discuss a range of priorities with allies, including “bringing stability to the Middle East.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the U.K. government said “it is standard practice for ministers to meet with opposition candidates as part of their routine international engagement.” Cameron met with Sen. Mitt Romney in 2012 when Romney was running for president and Cameron was prime minister.
The visit by Cameron comes amid a push by the White House to get Congress to sign off on a new aid package for Ukraine in its war against Russia. The aid has been mired in the House even though the Senate signed off on the $60 billion package nearly two months ago.
Cameron recently penned a joint op-ed with his French counterpart, where Cameron warned that if Russian President Vladimir Putin triumphs in Ukraine, “we all lose.”
In a statement distributed by the British Embassy, Cameron said that “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.”
Trump has repeatedly suggested that if he were president, he would be able to end the ongoing conflict — though the Washington Post reported this weekend part of his plan would call for Ukraine giving up some of its territory to Russia. The Trump campaign contended that the Post story was “fake news” in a statement given to the New York Post.
A Trump spokesperson did not return a request for comment on the meeting between the former Republican president and Cameron, which was first reported by The Sun.
But Cameron has had sharp words about Trump in the past. Just two months ago Cameron criticized Trump over comment he made at a campaign rally suggesting he would let Russia invade NATO allies that were “delinquent” in spending commitments. Cameron wrote in his memoir that Trump was “divisive, stupid and wrong” for banning people from Muslim countries from entering the U.S.