From Washington to Riyadh, we catch up with our globe-trotting PM's overseas adventures

Today it was Bergen in Norway, followed by Tallinn in Estonia. Last week it was Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Nicosia. Next week? Well it could be Rotterdam, or anywhere, Liverpool or Rome. Because it seems if there is one thing our Prime Minister likes to do at the moment, it is roam.

Sir Keir Starmer kicked of this week's tour with a relatively modest, 650-mile trip to Norway's second city, where he agreed a carbon-capture deal with his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Store. It will be followed later in the day by an 870-mile jaunt to the Estonian capital, where the PM will attend a gathering of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), a military coalition of several European countries. 

But the visits come just days after he broke the 75,000-mile barrier with his overseas jaunts, which is quite some going in just five months. 

The Prime Minister's team say it is important that Sir Keir is visible on the world stage, and say he has been dealing with important foreign-policy issues, as well as bringing in billions of pounds worth of overseas investment. But others have questioned whether all these trips are really necessary, and whether he would do better to focus on some of the pressing issues at home.

The PM began his international adventures within five days of taking office, with a 7,330-mile round trip to the 2024 Nato summit in Washington. During the visit he met Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and German Chancellor Olof Scholz.

After two days, it was back to London, but three days later he was off to Berlin to watch the Euro 24 final, between England and Spain, where he was joined by Lisa Nandy and Prince William. Later in the month it was a two-day visit to Paris, to see the opening of the Olympics with Emmanuel Macron. The PM had planned to travel by Eurostar, but ended up getting the plane following a series of arson attacks across the French railways.

On August 27 he returned to Berlin, for meetings with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Frank-Walter SteinmeierFrank-Walter Steinmeier. The following day he went back to Paris for the opening of the Paralympic Games, where he stayed until August 29.

On September 7 Sir Keir travelled to Dublin for a working lunch with Irish prime minister Simon Harris, where they agreed reinstate annual Anglo-Irish summits, before watching England play Ireland in a Uefa Nations League game.

On September 13, Sir Keir made another 7,330-mile jaunt to Washington and back to persuade US President Joe Biden to approve the use of missiles by Ukraine to fire deep inside Russia. The Prime Minister returned without such an agreement, although President Biden did later agree to the request

On September 16, it was off to Italy, where he met prime minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome, promising 'a new era' in cross-border co-operation to tackle people smuggling gangs.

It was back across the Atlantic on September 24, when Sir Keir attended the 79th summit of the United Nations General Assembly. Along with Foreign Secretary David Lammy, he met with Donald Trump for the first time at Trump Tower to "establish a relationship" between the two.

On October 2, it was a flying visit to Brussels, and a meeting with president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, where they agreed to hold regular summits starting in 2025.

He attended a summit in Berlin with President Biden, Chancellor Scholz and President Macron on October 18, where they discussed the situations in the Middle East and Ukraine. 

And then it was the big one....

The Prime Minister clocked up 20,400 miles when he travelled to Apia in Samoa and back, via Canada, to attend the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. The PM could be forgiven for looking a little jaded in the meeting,. 

A brief summit in Budapest was followed by a visit to Paris to mark Armistice Day, the first time a British prime minister had done so since Churchill in 1944. A few days later, it was off to Baku in Azerbaijan for the Cop 24 climate-change summit.

On November 18, it was time for another big trip, this time an 11,528-mile round jaunt to Rio de Janeiro for a summit of the G20. This trip proved somewhat controversial. His talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping raised eyebrows, while back at home farmers staged a protest in London against his plans to impose inheritance tax on family farms.

Sir Keir began last week with a visit to Abu Dhabi where he met with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for trade talks. The following day it was off to Riyadh where he met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for further talks on trade, as well as discussing Saudi Arabia's human rights record. He also invited the prince to the UK, saying he 'hoped the leaders would be able to watch a game of football in between meetings if he took up the offer'. 

On Monday last week he stopped off in Cyprus where he met President Nikos Christodoulides in Nicosia, but declined an invitation to meet President Ersin Tatar in Northern Cyprus.

That took his travels up to about 75,000 miles, but of course, we now have to add today's jaunts to his tally.

A Government spokesman said: "‘Britain is back' under this government and since coming into office the Prime Minister has begun to tackle the most pressing foreign policy priorities for the British people.

"This includes responding to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and conflict in the Middle East alongside rebuilding our international standing after the last 14 years.

"Our Plan for Change sets out that national security is the foundation of economic stability at home.

"By being front-footed overseas, we have delivered a record breaking £63 billion of new investment into our country which will transform communities across the UK, and we will continue to build global relations to grow our economy and deliver for the British people."