"Theresa May has secured a commitment from Donald Trump that the US is fully behind Nato at a historic press conference with an uncharacteristically emollient president.
May’s wisdom in becoming the first foreign leader to visit Trump in the White House had been questioned, after a series of wayward comments from the president in the run-up to the much anticipated meeting on Friday.
But she will hope to claim some credit for persuading him to reaffirm his country’s allegiance to the transatlantic alliance, which he has previously described as “obsolescent”.
Standing next to Trump, who nodded along, May said: “On defence and security cooperation, we’re united in our recognition of Nato as the bulwark of our collective defence and we reaffirmed our unshakeable commitment to this alliance. We’re 100% behind Nato.
“I agreed to continue my efforts to persuade my fellow European leaders to deliver on their commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defence, so that the burden is more fairly shared.”