Keir Starmer's floundering NATO appearance exposed a major warning sign of what is to come
During his first international summit as Prime Minister, Keir Starmer seemed to have no answers on one of the biggest issues of the day, Political Editor Sam Lister reports from Washington
Keir Starmer beamed as he strode on to the stage at Nato to be officially welcomed by Joe Biden.
The two leaders shook hands and appeared to share a joke in the exchange, which lasted less than a minute.
It was the same confident and elated demeanour the new Prime Minister showed when he spent half an hour taking questions from journalists on the back of his government plane.
Riding high after an electoral landslide and now rubbing shoulders with world leaders at a summit in Washington, Sir Keir is clearly enjoying the role he spent four years coveting.
But there was one major warning sign of things to come under the Starmerite era - Sir Keir appears to have no answers on one of the biggest issues of the day and he dealt with it in the most unusual way.
Rishi Sunak warned during the general election campaign the Labour leader did not have any solutions to the small boats crisis after he floundered nine times when pressed on his plans.
Quizzed by Westminster reporters on the same issue, he insisted a new quango, Border Command, will sort out the problem.
But on the third time of being pressed about whether he is committed to stopping the boats, the Prime Minister just stopped speaking.
In the awkward few seconds that followed, his eyes darted around looking for someone to move on the questioning.
It was reminiscent of the time during the debates when a member of the public said he was robotic, only for him to apparently malfunction as he stuttered to find a reply.
After a lifetime asking the difficult questions, Sir Keir appears to be struggling to answer them.
