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Louise Thomas

Sir Keir Starmer will need to rely on notes from officials to keep up to date with England's Euro 2024 semi final against the Netherlands.

The new prime minister, an avid Arsenal fan, will be unable to watch one of his favourite players Bukayo Saka and his team mates take on the Dutch on Wednesday for the right to play Spain in Sunday's final.

Worse still, Sir Keir's phone will be taken off him for security reasons as he joins other Nato leaders for talks on Ukraine at the Nato summit in Washington DC.

It means that he will not be able to quietly check the score in the middle of the talks on how to deal with Vladimir Putin.

Starmer is a football fan (Stefan Rousseau/PA) (PA Wire)But the prime minister did joke that he feels good about England's prospects, pointing out that they have not missed a penalty since he took power - with England scoring all five in the shootout against Switzerland.

Asked what his advice to England manager Gareth Southgate is, Sir Keir gave an emphatic: "Win."

He went on: "I understand our phones are all taken off us, when we go into the council, so I've not doubt we'll be passed lots of notes with really important information about the summit, and one or two of those notes hopefully will be an update on the score, because I'm not going to be able to get it otherwise."

Sir Keir is well aware of Bukayo Saka's talents: the England winger plays for his beloved Arsenal (REUTERS)He added: "But, look, I've sent a message to the team, obviously I wish them well, I want them to win, and let's hope they can do it tomorrow."

Missing the game will be difficult for the football-mad prime minister, who even made a point of stopping the campaign bus during the election to watch England's games with his staff and activists.

He told journalists that he was not surprised by the wonder goal by Saka - which rescued England with 10 minutes of normal time remaining in the quarter final against Switzerland - after seeing him play many times for Arsenal.

During the election, Sir Keir made a point of visiting minor league football grounds and he has insisted he still wants to play five-a-side even after entering Downing Street.