Sir Keir Starmer is working hard to keep Donald Trump's incoming administration informed.
But on the streets of America, few people know who the Prime Minister is.
A quick survey found that barely eight percent of New Yorkers know who Sir Keir is.
A Mail reporter asked 100 people on the streets of Manhattan yesterday if they had ever heard of the Prime Minister and only eight people could successfully identify him – but two of them were British tourists and another was from Australia.
The others had no idea or mistakenly thought he was a TV star or even a 'serial killer'.
The poll comes after a Trump ally told the Mail on Sunday: “Nobody [in the US] knows who Sir Keir is. 'Time who? Just ask most Americans on the street,” the ally said.
“I have no idea,” said 19-year-old Eli, a New York resident. “A serial killer?”
“I don't care who that is,” said 24-year-old John from Atlanta, Georgia. 'I thought it was Boris Johnson.'
A quick survey found that barely eight percent of New Yorkers know who Sir Keir is
President-elect Donald Trump during a rally in Washington DC before his inauguration today
A Mail reporter on the streets of Manhattan yesterday asked a hundred people if they had ever heard of the Prime Minister and only eight people could successfully identify him – but two of them were British tourists and another was from Australia.
Another said: 'We have too many of our own problems to know who that is.'
Jane, 20, from New York, correctly guessed that Sir Keir was British when she asked: 'Is he in favor of Brexit or something?'
Another Manhattan resident said, “I've definitely seen him on TV. He's definitely an actor, but I don't know what he's in.'
Some respondents had a vague idea, including one who said doubtfully: “Yes… is he the president of a European or Scandinavian country or something?”
Charlie Clark, 24, from Britain, described Starmer as “a bit… wishy-washy.”
The prime minister's relationship with Trump is already strained after a series of senior Labor figures made disparaging comments about him in the past.
The Labor mayor of London, recently knighted Sir Sadiq Khan, said in a column for the Observer yesterday that Trump's election is part of the 'resurgent fascism haunting the West'.
He said: 'The hard right and the extreme right are on the rise. These are very worrying times, especially if you are a member of a minority community.”
Downing Street was forced to distance itself yesterday, with Cabinet Secretary Darren Jones saying: 'I don't agree. I speak on behalf of the government and we do not agree with that.'
Jane, 20, from New York, correctly guessed that Sir Keir was British when she asked: 'Is he in favor of Brexit or something?'
The Labor mayor of London, recently knighted Sir Sadiq Khan, said in a column for the Observer yesterday that Trump's election is part of the 'resurgent fascism haunting the West'
Just two years ago the Prime Minister himself attacked the Conservative Party, saying: 'These are not Churchill's Tories anymore. 'If anything, they are behaving more and more like Donald Trump. They look at the politics of America and want to bring that here.”
Health Secretary West Streeting branded Trump an “odious, sad little man,” while Energy Secretary Ed Miliband suggested Britain should not share values with a “racist, misogynistic, self-appointed payer.”
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in 2018: “Trump is not only a misogynistic, neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath, he is also a serious threat to the international order that has for so long been the basis of Western progress.”
However, Labor has since softened their departure, with Sir Keir and his senior ministers taking a more diplomatic and conciliatory tone since Trump's election victory.
