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JoJo Penn, who was previously Theresa May’s deputy chief of staff, met with Donald Trump multiple times during his first presidency from 2016 to 2019.

Speaking to our Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Ms Penn detailed how Sir Keir Starmer might deal with Trump, advising him to “expect the unexpected”.

He said: “He will be bringing up a lot of topics, from China and North Korea to golf courses in Ireland and something he said on social media that day.

“He’s a pretty charismatic guy when you meet him in person. And I guess that shouldn’t be surprising, given the rallies he’s held across the US.

“He can be very direct. You know, he’s a deal maker.

“And he’d say tell me what you want or what I can do for you. And giving a very clear answer to that kind of straight question can often work in your favor.”

The former adviser recalled an incident when Trump met Mrs May at the G20 in Hamburg:

“It was actually a good meeting, very much overrated,” he said.

“There was a lot to discuss, but it can be difficult to keep President Trump on the agenda sometimes. Even though we had gone about 20 minutes over the allotted time when we finished the meeting, we realized that although we had brought up a lot of important issues, we had not touched on the issue of Climate change.”

“With Trump’s intention to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement.

“So we had to tell the prime minister that he needed to discuss this with him. But luckily at the G20, the seating in the main conference hall is arranged alphabetically.

“So the UK prime minister always sits between the Turkish president and the US president.

“It wasn’t a difficult thing for him to be able to talk to her on the sidelines of that conference.”

Listen to the full Election Dysfunction below: