Keir Starmer reveals Donald Trump comforted him after his brother's death saying they both ‘really care about family'
In an interview with the BBC to mark a year in office the Prime Minister said he had a 'good personal relationship' with Mr Trump, and told how they spoke days after Nick died on Boxing Day.
Sir Keir said he secretly visited his 60-year-old brother before and after the general election during his cancer treatment.
He told the BBC Radio 4 podcast Political Thinking With Nick Robinson it was 'in the national interest' for the two men to connect.
He said: 'We are different people and we've got different political backgrounds and leanings, but we do have a good relationship and that comes from a numbers of places.
'I think I do understand what anchors the president, what he really cares about.
'For both of us, we really care about family and there's a point of connection there.'
He added: 'It's really hard to lose your brother to cancer. I wanted fiercely to protect him.
'And that's why both before the election and after the election, I went secretly to see him at home, secretly to see him in hospital.
'He was in intensive care for a long time.'
Sir Keir was by his younger brother's side when doctors told his sibling he was terminally ill.
He paid emotional tribute to his sibling, who has described as a 'wonderful man' who had a 'really tough life' with learning disabilities..
Nick fought off pancreatic cancer in 2022 but the disease later returned, spreading to his lungs.
Sir Keir accompanied his younger sibling to the hospital when medics broke the devastating news, the PM's biographer, Tom Baldwin, revealed late last year.
'Nick is mostly deaf, unable to work and is going to die - that's it,' the PM disclosed to Mr Baldwin.
'I didn't want him to be on his own when he got this news,' he added, as he questioned whether Nick had 'really got his head around' the terminal diagnosis.
Addressing recent political turmoil, Sir Keir said he will always 'carry the can' as leader after coming under fire over a climbdown on welfare reforms and that he would 'always take responsibility' when asked questions.
'When things go well… the leader gets the plaudits, but when things don't go well, it is really important that the leader carries the can – and that's what I will always do.'
Sir Keir also backed Rachel Reeves and said she would be Chancellor 'for a very long time to come', after the politician was visibly tearful in the House of Commons on Wednesday following a U-turn to welfare reform plans that put an almost £5 billion black hole in her plans.
Ms Reeves said it was a 'personal matter' which had upset her ahead of Prime Minister's Questions.
The Government had seen off the threat of a major Commons defeat over the legislation on Tuesday after shelving plans to restrict eligibility for the personal independence payment, the main disability benefit in England.
Sir Keir said he cannot 'pretend… that wasn't a tough day', and stressed the welfare system 'isn't working for the people that matter to me'.
'In the world that isn't politics, it is commonplace for people to look again at a situation and judge it by the circumstances as they now are and make a decision accordingly,' he said of the changes.
'And that is common sense, it's pragmatic, and it's a reflection of who I am.
'It was important that we took our party with us, that we got it right.
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