Starmer gifted personalised revolver and ammo by Turkish President but it must be decommissioned before arriving in UK
Sir Keir Starmer was gifted a shiny silver revolver with bullets by Turkey’s President Recep Erdoğan during the Nato summit this week, but the PM had to leave the present behind.
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All 32 Nato leaders were reportedly gifted guns by the Turkish president in a private meeting during a summit in Ankara this week.
But Britain’s outgoing PM has to wait until his revolver, which is engraved with him name, is decommissioned before it can be brought to the UK.
The gift is currently being kept by British officials in Turkey despite Erdogan waiving export controls so Sir Keir could bring it home with him.
However, it was left behind as it is illegal to import a live firearm into Britain. It can only enter once it is no longer able to fire live ammunition.
It comes as the UK and Turkey agreed to co-operate more closely on defence following a meeting at the Nato summit.
Read more: Starmer arrives at Nato summit in Turkey as he calls for 'unity and strength' among leaders
Read more: Donald Trump says US could pull troops from Europe as he slams Nato over Greenland dispute
An agreement signed by Sir Keir Starmer and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday paves the way for further engagement and intelligence sharing between the two nations.
In a joint statement, the British and Turkish governments said the partnership reflected the two countries’ “shared determination as two major European Nato allies to further strengthen and institutionalise their co-operation in response to the evolving Euro-Atlantic security environment”.
The statement added: “Based on allied solidarity and shared responsibility, and reaffirming their shared commitment to shoulder greater responsibility for building a stronger Europe in a stronger Nato, they are increasing defence expenditure and stepping up co-operation on the delivery of the capabilities required by the alliance while preserving strong transatlantic bonds.”
At the Nato summit in the Turkish capital, Donald Trump urged Britain and other allies to speed up planned rises in defence spending to meet a Nato target “as quickly as possible”.
Having previously been severely critical of fellow alliance members over military funding, the US president said nations were “answering the call”.
Trump struck a notably conciliatory tone at the end of the on what had threatened to be the most contentious issue, and hailing the “love and unity” at a leaders’ meeting.
It was in marked contrast to his remarks on the eve of the event where he reignited a major diplomatic row by insisting that the US should control Greenland, which belongs to Denmark, and suggested America could pull all of its troops out of Europe in retaliation.
Ahead of the summit, Nato chief Mark Rutte had called on member states to present “credible” plans for reaching the commitment of spending 5% of economic output on defence by 2035 which was agreed at The Hague last year.Sir Keir has faced domestic criticism for failing to set out a clear path for reaching the goal in last week’s Defence Investment Plan (Dip).
On progress being made by countries to reach the 5% target, Trump said: “Some have truly answered the call, and others are making big changes, and will be answering the call. I think I can say, in all cases, they’re going to be answering the call.”
He added: “I urge all nations to accelerate their plans to get the benchmark as quickly as possible.”Earlier, referring to the meeting of Nato leaders, Trump said: “There was a lot of love in that room. A lot of unity.”