When Britain’s overseas secretary, David Cameron, went to Washington on Tuesday, he made all the standard stops, from the State Division to Capitol Hill. However it was his pilgrimage to Palm Seaside, Fla., the place he met former President Donald J. Trump for dinner on Monday night at Mar-a-Lago, that grabbed a lot of the consideration.
Mr. Cameron is the primary high British authorities official to satisfy with Mr. Trump since he left the White Home. His go to — ostensibly to persuade Mr. Trump into backing further American army assist to Ukraine — attests to Mr. Trump’s affect over a far-right faction of Home Republicans who’ve been holding up a vote.
It additionally underscores how the electoral calendar is affecting political dynamics on each side of the Atlantic. Mr. Cameron, a onetime prime minister, has emerged as virtually a shadow British chief overseas, standing in for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who’s busy with a looming basic election at house.
In touring to satisfy Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Mr. Cameron was reaching out to a as soon as, and probably future, American president — one whose jaundiced views on Ukraine are seen as the most important hurdle to the continuation of much-needed American assist for the Ukrainian army.
“We had a great assembly,” Mr. Cameron mentioned of Mr. Trump, whereas standing alongside Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken after their very own session on the State Division on Tuesday. “It was a personal assembly.”
Mr. Cameron mentioned he and Mr. Trump mentioned Ukraine, the Israel-Gaza battle and different geopolitical points, however he declined to say whether or not he had made any headway on convincing Mr. Trump to supply further assist to Ukraine. He mentioned he delivered the identical message he offers to different American leaders: “The very best factor we are able to do that 12 months is to maintain the Ukrainians on this combat.”
Mr. Trump has not commented on the dinner, which included Britain’s ambassador to Washington, Karen Pierce. His marketing campaign issued an announcement saying they mentioned “the necessity for NATO nations to satisfy their protection spending necessities and ending the killing in Ukraine.” In addition they shared their “mutual admiration for the late Queen Elizabeth II.”
Thus far, Mr. Cameron’s lobbying marketing campaign in Washington has been met with decidedly combined outcomes. Whereas he mentioned he regarded ahead to conferences with Republicans within the Home and Senate on Tuesday and Wednesday, he was not scheduled to satisfy with Speaker Mike Johnson, the Louisiana Republican who’s the pivotal determine in scheduling a Home vote on army assist to Ukraine.
The 2 males final met in December, when Mr. Cameron additionally noticed Consultant Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Georgia Republican who stridently opposes additional assist. Two months later, she lashed out at Mr. Cameron, saying he had accused Republicans of appeasing President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
“David Cameron wants to fret about his personal nation,” Ms. Taylor Greene mentioned, including an epithet.
At his information convention with Mr. Blinken, Mr. Cameron acknowledged that he seen his visits to Capitol Hill with “nice trepidation,” noting that, “It’s not for overseas politicians to inform legislators overseas what to do.”
Mr. Cameron performed down the Mar-a-Lago assembly, saying it was routine for senior British and American officers to satisfy opposition candidates. As prime minister, he famous, he met with the Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, when he got here to London on a fund-raising journey. Mr. Blinken met the Labour Celebration chief, Keir Starmer, at a safety convention in Munich.
Nonetheless, there may be little routine about assembly a former president on the Palm Seaside property that served as his winter White Home and remains to be his political bastion. Mr. Trump used Mar-a-Lago for summit conferences with overseas leaders like President Xi Jinping of China. Extra lately, he welcomed a like-minded chief, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary.
Amongst Republicans, a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago has at occasions been an train in political validation. Kevin McCarthy, the previous Home speaker, went there three weeks after the assault on the Capitol in January 2021, in a fruitless bid to win Mr. Trump’s favor. Allies like Kristi Noem, the South Dakota governor, and Kari Lake, the Arizona TV anchor-turned-politician, are common guests.
Diplomats in Britain mentioned Mr. Cameron’s go to was a threat, however attribute of how he has approached his job from the beginning. On points from Ukraine to Israel’s army marketing campaign in Gaza, he has pushed the envelope in his public statements. With Britain’s Conservative authorities lagging Labour by double digits within the polls and dealing with voters within the fall, some mentioned Mr. Cameron had little to lose.
“Flattering Trump about his significance and significance on this subject is an astute transfer on Cameron’s half,” mentioned Simon Fraser, a former head of Britain’s Overseas Workplace. “Let’s see whether or not it delivers.”
Mr. Fraser predicted that Mr. Cameron’s go to would get a combined reception in Britain: applauded by those that view it primarily by way of a foreign-policy lens; criticized by these, he mentioned, “who can’t stand Trump.” However he mentioned Mr. Cameron’s entree to Mr. Trump spoke to his community of worldwide contacts, a legacy of his time as prime minister.
“He’s bringing extra attain and power and affect to British overseas coverage,” Mr. Fraser mentioned.
Leslie Vinjamuri, the director of the U.S. and Americas program at Chatham Home, the British analysis establishment, mentioned, “It could not really feel tasteful, however it’s shrewd, pragmatic politics of the type Britain particularly has traditionally been so good at, and possibly of the type that may work greatest with Trump.”
“There’s a lot at stake in U.S. protection of Ukraine and Europe’s safety,” she added, “and albeit, I believe the hassle to affect the U.S. could also be wiser and more practical than the aspiration to Trump-proof Europe.”
Mr. Cameron has had a bumpy historical past with Mr. Trump. In 2016, as prime minister, he condemned Mr. Trump’s marketing campaign proposal to position a short lived ban on permitting Muslims to enter the US.
Requested in Parliament whether or not Mr. Trump ought to be banned from Britain, Mr. Cameron demurred however mentioned, “His remarks are divisive, silly and flawed, and I believe if he came around our nation, I believe he’d unite us all in opposition to him.”
Even Mr. Cameron’s welcoming of Mr. Romney in 2012 had its awkward moments. Mr. Romney, who had organized the 1988 Winter Olympic Video games in Salt Lake Metropolis, questioned whether or not London was able to play host to the summer time video games, citing reviews about safety issues.
“We’re holding an Olympic Video games in one of many busiest, most lively, bustling cities wherever on the earth,” Mr. Cameron shot again. “After all, it’s simpler should you maintain an Olympic Video games in the midst of nowhere.”
Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.
