Sir Keir Starmer suffered his own embarrassing mishap at the G7 summit when he mistook an interpreter for South Korea‘s President.
The Prime Minister, who the day before had to spare Donald Trump‘s blushes when he dropped their trade deal papers on the floor, shook hands with a translator instead of Lee Jae-myung as they met for formal talks.
He then appeared to be unsure where they should stand for photos in several seconds of confusion at the annual gathering of world leaders, being held at a Canadian mountain resort.
After the mix-up, Sir Keir said Britain had a ‘good strong relationship’ with South Korea and ‘want to strengthen it even further’ in areas including ‘the enhancement of our free trade agreement’ and defence.
In response, President Lee, attending as the head of one of the G7’s ‘outreach’ countries in his first foreign trip since being elected two weeks ago, agreed ‘we should make progress in modernising our free trade agreement’.
Earlier Sir Keir had explained to reporters why he felt he had to crouch down and retrieve the transatlantic trade deal documents dropped by Mr Trump in their meeting on Monday.
He said he was worried that anyone else who tried to help would have been tackled by the President’s security team.
‘There weren’t many choices with the documents and picking it up, because as you probably know there were quite strict rules about who can get close to the president,’ the PM said.
Sir Keir Starmer is seen with the South Korean president and his translator at the G7
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung shake hands during the meeting on Tuesday
After the mix-up, Sir Keir said Britain had a ‘good strong relationship’ with South Korea
‘I mean seriously I think if any of you had stepped forward other than me.. I was just deeply conscious that in a situation like it would not have been good for anybody else to have stepped forwards – not that any of you rushed to.
‘There’s a very tightly guarded security zone around the president, as you would expect.’
He insisted the President was ‘in good form’ despite him also mistakenly announcing he had agreed a trade deal with the European Union.
At last year’s G7 summit in Italy, then US President Joe Biden was seen wandering away from a group of his fellow world leaders, who had to call him back.
At the time, his allies and many in the media insisted he had merely been going to look at a group of sky-divers and dismissed suggestions he lacked mental fitness.
But little over a month later he was forced to withdraw from the White House race after a disastrous debate with Mr Trump.
Sir Keir Starmer and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung hold a bilateral meeting during the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada on June 17
Starmer and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung shake hands as they meet for a bilateral meeting during the G7 Leaders’ Summit on June 17
Sir Keir and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung hold a bilateral meeting during the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada on June 17
Today’s mishap comes after Sir Keir made an unfortunate gaffe in first party conference speech as prime minister in September.
As he addressed a packed out venue in Liverpool, he spoke about the crisis in the Middle East and the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
The PM urged for an ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Gaza and went on call for a ‘return of the sausages’, seemingly fumbling his words before correcting himself.
He said: ‘I call again for restraint and de-escalation between Lebanon and Israel. I call again for all parties to pull back from the brink.
‘I call again for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the return of the sausages… the hostages, and a recommitment to the two-state solution, a recognised Palestine and a safe and secure Israel.’
