UK’s Cameron pleads for Ukraine aid as he meets Trump

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron depart at the end of a joint press conference at the State Department – Copyright AFP Mandel NGAN

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron pleaded Tuesday for US Republicans to approve billions of dollars in military support for Ukraine as he made his case directly to Donald Trump.

The former Conservative prime minister had dinner Monday with Trump, the ex-president and Republican challenger to Joe Biden in November, at his Florida estate before heading to Washington.

Speaking the next day alongside Biden’s top diplomat Antony Blinken, Cameron described his meeting with Trump as “private” but said he raised issues including “the future of NATO,” the Western alliance which the Republican mogul has often criticized as unfair to the United States.

Cameron will also meet lawmakers in Washington where he said he would call for the Republican-led House of Representatives to move ahead on Biden’s request for some $60 billion in new assistance to Ukraine.

“I come here with no intention to lecture anybody, or tell anybody what to do or get in the way of the process of politics,” Cameron said.

“I just come here as a great friend and believer in this country, and a believer that it’s profoundly in your interest,” he said, “to release this money.”

“There will be people in Tehran, in Pyongyang, in Beijing, looking at how we stand by our allies, how we help them, how we stop this illegal and unprovoked aggression, and working out whether we are committed,” he said.

The Trump campaign said that the two discussed “the upcoming US and UK elections, policy matters specific to Brexit, the need for NATO countries to meet their defense spending requirements and ending the killing in Ukraine.”

Ukraine has warned that it risks losing ground and it is already rationing ammunition as Russia, sensing an advantage more than two years into its invasion, ramps up attacks.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson said last month he was looking at a “number of avenues” on Ukraine aid, which has already been approved by the Senate, controlled by Biden’s Democratic Party.

Johnson, holding a razor-thin Republican majority, has previously refused to allow a vote as he faces the wrath of far-right lawmakers.

Blinken said it was “imperative” for the House to act now that it is back in session.

“We look to see that brought before the House and to get a vote as quickly as possible,” Blinken said.