Cameron fails to persuade Trump to back aid for Ukraine

David Cameron’s attempt to persuade Donald Trump to permit the US Congress to push through $60bn in military aid for Ukraine appears to have failed, after the British foreign secretary was not even granted a meeting with the House speaker, Mike Johnson, who could in theory put the package to a vote.

- Patrick Wintour

Johnson instead found himself assailed by the hard-right Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene , who renewed her threats of a snap vote to remove him from office for even countenancing a vote .

At a private dinner in Trump’s Florida base, Mar-a- Lago , Cameron had urged the former president to recognise that it was in the US’s interest that Vladimir Putin not be rewarded for seizing land from Ukraine.

He also insisted that by the time of a Nato summit in Washington in July , plans would be in place for every Nato member to reach or pass their target for defence spending . He was hoping Trump would signal a change of course at least by clearing the path to a meeting with Johnson.

At a joint press conference in Washington yesterday , Cameron and the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken , repeated their appeals for Congress to unblock the assistance.

Cameron insisted he had not come to the US to lecture anyone or interfere with internal politics but said he was prepared to drop the “diplospeak” because he felt so emotional about the need for the US and Europe to stand together to defend Ukraine against Russian aggression.