Health secretary hails talks over defence, security and trade as Badenoch says her party will continue to oppose Chagos deal

Good morning. Keir Starmer is back in the UK and, in the unlikely event that he goes into a newsagent’s this morning, he will find that his meeting with President Trump in the White House has secured him perhaps the most favourable press coverage he has had since the general election. Gloria De Piero, the broadcaster and former Labour MP, has the headlines laid out here.

Of course, the success of a government should never be judged by what the national newspapers are saying about it (few other performance indicators are less reliable), but after months of relentlessly critical press coverage, Starmer will be grateful for a spot of respite.

I thought that the meeting yesterday was a spectacular success both on the defence and security issues that President Trump and our prime minister were discussing but also on the enthusiasm President Trump showed for a deeper trading relationship.