SIR Keir Starmer stumbled into a major gaffe when he mistook an interpreter for the South Korea leader.
The Prime Minister shook hands with a translator rather than his counterpart Lee Jae-myung while at the G7 summit.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung shake hands during a bilateral meeting during the Group of Seven (G7) Summit[/caption]
Sir Keir Starmer and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung[/caption]
There was then confusion over where the two leaders should stand before they posed for a photograph at the get-together in Canada.
The embarrassing moment came just a day after Sir Keir was forced to save the day when Donald Trump dropped the paperwork of the UK-US trade deal on the floor.
The South Korea leader has only just won power after being elected two weeks ago.
Starmer said the UK and Korea “have a good strong relationship”.
He said he wanted to “strengthen it even further” in areas including “the enhancement of our free trade agreement” and defence and security.
Lee agreed that “we should make progress in modernising our free trade agreement.”
The PM also said that no one should be worried about the US President’s health after he dropped the papers.
Trump also mistakenly said that the US had signed a trade deal with the European Union rather than the UK.
Sir Keir said: “No. I mean, look, there weren’t many choices with the documents and picking it up, because one – as you probably know there were quite strict rules about who can get close to the president.
“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.
“But no, he was in good form yesterday, and I mean we had – I don’t know how many sessions yesterday together as the G7 and then into the evening session as well.”
The South Korea leader has only just won power after being elected two weeks ago[/caption]
The PM also said that no one should be worried about the US President’s health after he dropped the papers[/caption]
Sir Keir picks up the UK-U.S. trade agreement papers dropped by US President Donald Trump before speaking to the media at the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta[/caption]
