British PM Keir Starmer deflects question about Biden’s mental fitness

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer deflected questions about President Joe Biden’s mental fitness and age during a CNN interview Friday, saying it is up to American voters to decide on their president.

CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Starmer, the newly-elected prime minister of the United Kingdom, whether he believed 80 years was too old for someone to serve as U.S. president — noting both parties’ presumptive candidates would be just over or under that age come November.

“Obviously, in America, it’s for the American people to decide who they want to be their president,” Starmer replied.

Starmer also maintained earlier in the interview that Biden was in “good form” during a one-on-one meeting between the leaders Thursday.

“We were billed for 45 minutes. We probably went on for the best part of an hour. Covered a lot of ground. And, he was in good form,” Starmer said during the CNN interview, echoing his Thursday remarks to the BBC.

The interview comes just over a week after he was elected prime minister in the Labour Party’s landslide victory.

Tapper also asked Starmer if he endorsed Biden for president, noting the U.K. leader said a second Trump term would not be his “desired outcome” during a September 2023 interview with Politico.

Starmer said he would work with whoever is elected in November.

“I am a progressive, and we’re sister parties with the Democrats. But I’ve also been really clear that I will work with whoever the American people decide to elect as their president. That’s what you would expect — and it is for the American people to decide,” Starmer replied.