Sir Keir Starmer, Britain’s prime minister, said he could strike a trade deal with Donald Trump and avoid punitive tariffs on the UK as he dismissed as “noise” the sharp criticism of Elon Musk in his leadership.

Starmerspoke to the Financial Times during a visit to Kyiv, insisting that Trump’s inauguration on Monday will not add to his political problems, saying that they have a “good” relationship that will survive the outpouring of allies of the incoming president that Musk, the richest man in the world.

“What’s important to me is my relationship with the US and my relationship with president-elect Trump,” Starmer said, dismissing recent FT revelations that Musk was looking for ways to oust him from Downing. Street.

“Ultimately my experience is that you have to focus on what’s important,” he said, referring to Musk’s suggestion that he was the leader of a “tyrannical” government. “Ignore the noises.”

Trump asked Musk to help his new administration cut US bureaucracy. Starmer also said he would be “harsh on cuts” if Labour’s fiscal rules had to be followed after rising UK borrowing costs in recent months.

Starmer has put good store on what he believes to be a strong early relationship with Trump, despite the president-elect’s close relationship with his domestic rival Nigel Farage, and Trump’s campaign in October accusing his Labor party of interfering with US election.

Starmer hit back at the president-elect who hosted him for dinner at Trump Tower in New York in September.

“He made a great effort,” said Starmer, sitting in a puffa jacket at the traditional Kyiv restaurant Kanapa, a fire burning in the corner. “He came to New York to have dinner with me and I’m very grateful for that.”

The relationship is now about to be tested, especially if Trump follows through on his threat to impose new global tariffs.

“Tariffs are in nobody’s interest,” Starmer said, as plates of dumplings and mushrooms began to arrive. “Our ambition is to have an agreement with the US, a trade deal. That’s where our focus is.”

Some sort of UK-US trade deal has been the dream of successive British prime ministers since Brexit, but has never materialised. Starmer dismissed the “false choice” he had to choose between a deal with Trump or a better trade deal with the EU.

The timing of Starmer’s visit to Kyiv on Thursday – days before Trump’s inauguration – was a symbolic display of the UK’s continued support for Volodymyr Zelenskyy: the two men signed a “100-year partnership” between the two countries.

But it is also a chance for Starmer to let Trump know that Britain is prepared to join France and other European allies by stepping up to the plate – possibly by putting peacekeepers on the ground – if Ukraine agrees to end the Russian war.

Trump last month told Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron that he hoped the Europeans would get peace, but Starmer said he was confident the new US president would help put Ukraine in place. in the “strongest position” before any peace talks.

“He is very aware of the contribution that the US has made here,” said Starmer, whose visit to Kyiv was accompanied by Russian drone activity in the city. “That’s very important to both of us. I think he fully understands the critical role the US will play in this regard. “

Zelenskyy on Thursday listed the US as one of the countries – along with Germany, Hungary and Slovakia – opposed to Ukraine’s membership in Nato. Starmer said he would “urge” countries to open the door.

Meanwhile, Starmer is expected to press ahead with a deal to transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Islands – home to the US/UK military base Diego Garcia – from the UK to Mauritius amid fears some in the Trump team could cede influence to China. .

“I think it’s right that he should look into it,” Starmer said, after the prime minister bowed to a request from Trump to study the deal before it was signed. But he insisted the agreement would secure the long-term legal future of the base.

Will Trump be happy to see Starmer’s continued rapprochement with Beijing, including his attempts to generate more UK-China trade? “We’ll see,” he said. “The US is our closest ally. It’s usually best not to get ahead of ourselves.”

Starmer has enough economic problems that Trump has not exacerbated, while Britain grapples with the threat of “stagflation”, with inflation above Bank of Englandnor 2 percent target combined with near-zero growth. Business and markets became more gloomy.

But the prime minister insisted that his long-term economic strategy was working and that his critics should stop hanging on to daily economic data, rejecting suggestions that Rachel Reeves’ future as chancellor was somehow depends on whether the previous month’s inflation was 2.5 percent. or 2.6 percent.

“I’ve always said it will take time,” Starmer said, arguing that investment in Britain was strong. “I don’t think overreacting to each and every decimal point on a daily basis should be a reflection. We know it’s going to be a long journey.”

The UK’s 10-year gilt yield hit a post-financial crisis high of 4.93 percent last week, but has since fallen to 4.66 percent at Friday’s close. Gilts rallied as weaker than expected inflation, growth and sales data prompted investors to increase their bets on an interest rate cut from the BoE.

Starmer admitted that if borrowing costs exceeded expectations and blew a hole in Reeves’ fiscal plans, he would not hesitate to act, even if it risked a major confrontation with Labor MPs and many of his own ministers.

“We’ll be tough on cuts if that’s what it takes,” he said. “Ultimately the fiscal rules and our commitment to them are ironclad.” Starmer insisted that last year’s Budget, with its £40bn tax hike, laid the foundations for growth.

“It’s about setting conditions, it’s about stability, it’s about certainty,” he said. “It’s about not cutting and changing – it’s about sticking to the decisions made, hard even if they are and right even if they are.”

Starmer’s approval ratings have fallen since the general election and Labour, according to a YouGov poll, is now just one point ahead of Farage’s Reform UK party. Nerves on the Labor benches are frayed.

“I love fights,” Starmer said, as he reflected on the long train ride from Kyiv. “I have to fight to get the leadership of the Labor party, I have to fight to win the election. Five years ago people said, ‘he can’t do it’, but I said, ‘watch this space’.

Additional reporting by Ian Smith in London