Keir Starmer has defended Joe Biden’s mental capabilities after he mistakenly called Volodomyr Zelenskyy “President Putin”.
The US president made the embarrassing gaffe at the end of a Nato summit in Washington DC.
Attempting to introduce Ukrainian president Zelenskyy, Biden said: “Now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination. Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin.
He then began to walk offstage before realising his gaffe and walked back to say Zelenskyy is “gonna beat President Putin”.
Asked about the gaffe at a press conference, Starmer - who had earlier denied Biden is “senile” following talks with the president in the White House - said: “I can’t really say more than I’ve said already.
“This was a successful council. He led it, he deserves credit for that. The outcome that matters is that Ukraine ... they are facing Russian aggression in its physical sense every single day.
“They are dying every single day. Children are dying. And they need our support, and it’s not just support for Ukraine, it is also about our values. It is about what we stand for, it is about what Nato values are.
“We’ve had a successful outcome on that I think that is a good thing. I think people have worked very hard for that to happen, it doesn’t always happen at the end of councils like this.
“We’ve reached a declaration which has been signed off, is good and now we follow through in it.
“President Biden deserves credit for planning this, leading this and getting us to this stage.”
Compounding his mistake at a news conference later, Biden called his vice-president, Kamala Harris, “vice-president Trump”.
Pressure is mounting on Biden to drop out of the US presidential race ahead of November’s election, where he is due to face Donald Trump.
A growing number of Democratic politicians and supporters - including Hollywood stars George Clooney and Michael Douglas - have urged him to withdraw.
However, the defiant president has said that only God can tell him when it is time to quit.