Keir Starmer insists he does not think President Biden is too old for the White House
The Prime Minister plans to impose an age limit of 80 on members of the House of Lords.
Keir Starmer denied his plans to force peers into retirement at 80 means Joe Biden is too old to be leader of the free world.
The US President, 81, is under intense pressure to quit the race for the White House after a dismal televised election debate that sent shockwaves across America.
Sir Keir insisted his House of Lords reforms are not a reflection of his views on PresidentBiden’s ability to serve.
He said: “In terms of the age in the House of Lords, the simple fact is that our House of Lords is massive.
“It’s the second biggest political chamber in the world. I think it’s only the Chinese who have a bigger political chamber than our House of Lords; we have to reduce it.
“That is the primary driver of the retirement at 80. You can see why that needs to be done.
“We’ve got 800-plus members of the House of Lords, it’s simply too big. We need to reduce it.
“So it doesn’t reflect on how other elected representatives are chosen in other countries, it’s to do with the size of the House of Lords.”
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Asked whether age restriction should be applied “across the board”, Sir Keir said his plans “did not reflect on how other elected representatives are chosen in other countries”.
Sir Keir is holding one to one talks with President Biden today (WED) and will attend a glitzy dinner later with wife Victoria at the White House.
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He said: “I’ve already had a phone call with President Biden.
“I want to follow up on that, this is obviously a very special relationship we have between the UK and the US.
“We have, within that, a special aspect when it comes to defence and security for obvious reasons including our commitment to Nato.
“We make a unique contribution in Europe to Nato and therefore it’s a very good opportunity for me to talk to the President about how we take forward the important work at this summit.”
