Ed Miliband, the UK foreign secretary, avoided answering questions about past comments in which he branded Donald Trump "a racist, misogynistic, self-confessed groper" as he met his US counterpart, Marco Rubio, in Washington on 6 August 2026. He smiled and shook hands with Rubio, telling him he was looking forward to their talks, and made no reference to his previous remarks about the US president made in 2016.

The meeting followed an initial encounter between the two foreign ministers on the sidelines of a summit in the Philippines the previous month, after which Rubio invited Miliband to Washington. Following the talks, Miliband described the discussion as "warm" and "productive" and reaffirmed that the UK and US remained the "closest of allies."