British Foreign Secretary David Lammy disclosed Wednesday he has spoken to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio 13 times this year, with Starmer and Trump speaking “almost” as many times.
Behind the scenes on the U.K. side, National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, a seasoned negotiator, and Defense Secretary John Healey, seen as another heavyweight, have been key to this drive, aided by U.S. envoy to the U.K. Mark Burnett.
As one British official reflected after the meeting in Rome: “We were happy that we were able to continue to underline that Putin has shown no sign of any intention to commit to peace.”
A French official chimed in that “for the moment, Trump has understood” Putin can’t be trusted. They added: “It’s something that the president [Macron] repeatedly says, and tries to get through to Trump. That’s our strategy right now.”
Steven Pfifer, a senior fellow at U.S.-based think tank the Brookings Institution, said that Trump had had “a blind spot for Putin ignoring U.S. requests” but that his recent statements on social media “seemed to suggest he thought he was being played by Putin.”
“In their conversations, Macron and Starmer have been trying to point that out to Trump,” Pfifer said.