Donald Trump has said he thinks Sir Keir Starmer has “done a very good job” so far and said the pair will speak over the phone “over the next 24 hours”.
The US president said he and the prime minister “get along well” despite Sir Keir being “liberal, which is a little bit different from me”.
“But I think he’s a very good person,” Mr Trump said. “I think he’s done a very good job thus far.
“He’s represented his country in terms of his philosophy. I may not agree with his philosophy but I have a very good relationship with him.”
Sir Keir previously met Mr Trump for dinner at Trump Tower in New York in September, before he was elected president for a second time, and has held two pre-inauguration calls with him.
Mr Trump told reporters on Air Force One that his first international trip could be to the UK, or Saudi Arabia – the first country he travelled to as president during his first term.
The US president said “traditionally it could be UK”, but last time he travelled to Saudi Arabia because it agreed to buy billions of dollars of US merchandise.
“If that offer were right, I’d do that again,” he said.
Mr Trump’s warm remarks about Sir Keir were at odds with those of billionaire Elon Musk, who has played a starring role in his second presidency so far, and has repeatedly called for the prime minister to be replaced.
Trump reverses Biden’s halt on 2,000lb bombs for Israel
Mr Trump also said he had instructed the US military to reverse an order from former president Joe Biden halting the supply of heavy 2,000lb bombs to Israel.
“They paid for them and they’ve been waiting for them for a long time,” Mr Trump said about the munitions.
Mr Biden had paused delivery of the bombs to Israel over concerns about the impact they could have on civilians during Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
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Trump says Egypt and Jordan should take more Palestinians from Gaza
Mr Trump also said Egypt and Jordan should take more Palestinians from Gaza and when asked if it was a temporary or long-term suggestion, he replied: “Could be either.”
Speaking of his call to Jordan’s King Abdullah on Saturday, the president said: “I said to him I’d love you to take on more because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess. I’d like him to take people.”
“I’d like Egypt to take people,” he added, saying he would speak to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi on Sunday.
He said the Palestinian enclave was “literally a demolition site, almost everything is demolished and people are dying there”, adding: “So I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”
President fires inspectors general at several agencies
Mr Trump also confirmed he had fired 17 independent inspectors general at several government agencies and said he would “put good people in there that will be very good”.
Inspectors generally act as an independent check on mismanagement and abuse of power inside US government agencies, and while they are appointed by the president, they are expected to be nonpartisan and some serve presidents from both parties.
It comes after the US State Department ordered a freeze on new funding for almost all American foreign development assistance following an executive order issued by Mr Trump.