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Keir Starmer knew his first post-summit press conference as Prime Minister would be a key moment.
Having been warmly welcomed by NATO leaders and delivered a strong, solid performance on his first international stage since his election victory, Starmer needed to end his trip to Washington DC with an equally strong, solid performance at the microphone in front of reporters.
Few realised how much preparation went into what was likely a formal event, but Starmer told reporters on the flight home that, between a series of bilateral meetings and a meeting of the NATO Council, he and his team had been prepared for any question.
Everything seemed to be going well, but then, as often happens, something unexpected happened.
Just before the press conference, Starmer joined other NATO leaders on stage behind Joe Biden to welcome the hero of the event.
after that…
“President Putin!” the US president declared, as a visibly bewildered-looking Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky stood next to him, waiting to take the podium.
In fairness, Starmer was not fazed by the shock of a moment that shocked the world and sent tremors through American politics: he simply responded robotically to the cheers of applause.
But what was going on in his head was something entirely different.
“I know I have to destroy everything,” he admitted about the meticulous preparation of the press conference.
Sure enough, Starmer suddenly found himself faced with a barrage of tough questions about the US president’s health and whether he was fit to lead the free world.
His answers from the podium were solid. He focused on the success of the meeting and avoided any comments that could be interpreted as direct comments at the president himself. He was not as forthcoming about the US president’s health as Germany’s Olaf Scholz or France’s Emmanuel Macron, but he gave that impression without saying much directly.
Unfortunately for the Prime Minister, in his response earlier in the day he had already stepped on a political landmine on the same subject, revealing his inexperience in a subtle but significant way.
In a brief on-air interview, the BBC’s political editor, Chris Mason, asked Mr Starmer whether Mr Biden was “declining”, a term he had carefully checked beforehand to ensure it did not imply any specific medical diagnosis.
According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, the word means “diminished mental faculties due to old age,” which certainly seems to apply to the 81-year-old president.
Starmer responded naturally but clumsily to the question: “No.”
The prime minister later elaborated, but he quickly allowed the British press to churn out “Biden Is Not Old” headlines, in a way that planted the idea in his own mind rather than in the person asking the question.
The prime minister made a similar gaffe when meeting reporters after flying to the US, where, when asked if he would agree to union demands for higher wages for members, he gave a firm “no” – a response that caused immediate uproar among trade union leaders at home, with Downing Street officials trying to intervene to get the prime minister and his touring lobbyists to change their script.
The phrase that came to mind was “boyish error.”
Starmer clearly realised his mistake by the time of the press conference, but he was probably more worried about being pressed about the apparent hypocrisy of telling all NATO member states that they need to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence, yet giving no timetable for his own government to achieve that target.
But if Starmer had any honeymoon (and it is doubtful whether he did), the controversy over Biden meant it was short-lived.
Actor and Democratic activist George Clooney immediately arrived in Washington, D.C. The New York Times He joined several senior members of Congress in calling on Biden to withdraw from the presidential race, and those voices were growing louder behind the scenes.
Starmer spent much of Thursday preparing for the visit and poring over profiles of leaders in anticipation of an inevitable victory. His chief of staff, Sue Gray, a former senior civil servant, has compiled a collection of profiles of world leaders.
But he probably didn’t expect such a political storm surrounding the US president.
When the two men held a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, the media was invited in for opening remarks, making the atmosphere seem more like a visit to an elderly relative in a nursing home.
Biden’s voice was a quiet, husky whisper. Starmer, his feet tied together in fear that something might go wrong, spoke slowly and loudly.
After exchanging public pleasantries about England’s soccer win and Mr Biden’s support for Mr Starmer to reverse some aspects of Brexit, the two men were able to hold what all involved described as a good meeting, though it lasted longer than the allotted 45 minutes.
In fact, Biden didn’t say a word wrong during the summit, but as the Putin-Zelensky standoff erupted and the Prime Minister’s party was heading to the official plane to fly everyone home, the US president held a nasty press conference in which he ended up confusing Vice President Kamala Harris with Donald Trump.
In fairness, the Prime Minister did no wrong interacting with reporters as usual on the flight home, defending the President for steering the summit to success. With the prison crisis mounting, trade union anger growing and a possible revolt over the two-child benefit cap, he may have been relieved that attention had shifted elsewhere.
But in what was meant to be a victory rally for the new prime minister, the controversy surrounding Biden showed that political realities were fast becoming harsher, leaving him little to no room for error.