Liz Truss set to meet Joe Biden for first time as PM in September if she wins leadership

LIZ Truss is set to meet US President Joe Biden for the first time as PM in New York in September if she wins the keys to No10.

The PM-to-be’s team and Whitehall are preparing for her first few weeks in power if she secures the Tory crown on September 5 as polls predict.

Officials are drawing up plans for her first face-to-face talk with the US President Joe Biden.

The pair’s first proper sit-down is expected to be in New York as the pair both fly in for the United Nations General Assembly summit.

It comes as yesterday she doubled down on her vow to stare down Vladimir Putin and China’s President Xi at the G20 in November.

Both rogue leaders have confirmed to the Indonesian President that they will go to the international gathering in Bali – sparking uproar in the international community.

Joko Widodo, told Bloomberg: “Xi Jinping will come. President Putin has also told me he will come.”

Team Truss insisted she would still attend the summit – and vowed to challenge the Russian warmonger directly over his illegal invasion of Ukraine.

She said last month: ”I’m prepared to say to Putin directly and call him out in front of those very important swing countries like India and Indonesia.

“I would go there, and I would call Putin out.”

But her rival Rishi Sunak said he would boycott the meeting if he becomes PM – and urged Putin’s invite to be rescinded until he pulled his troops out.

A source said: “Our G20 partners and allies have a collective responsibility to call Putin’s abhorrent behaviour out.

“Sitting round a table with him isn’t good enough when he is responsible for children being killed in their beds as they sleep.

“We need to send a strong message to Putin that he doesn’t have a seat at the table unless and until he stops his illegal war in Ukraine.”

Ms Truss is still miles ahead of her rival in polling of Tory members so far.

But yesterday Transport Secretary and Rishi-backer, Grant Shapps, insisted people shouldn’t write him off just yet.

He told Sky News the former Chancellor could pull off a stunning Brexit-style win that no one was predicting – after Mr Sunak insisted again he would not pull out of the face.

Mr Shapps said: “I don’t think it would be right for either side to not allow a formal vote to go ahead.

“Think of the 2015 election… everyone said we couldn’t win the election.

“I think the 2016 Brexit poll where everyone was pretty sure the country was about to vote for Remain.

“It would be a very good idea to wait for those who are voting in this contest to complete the vote.”

Ms Truss was ‘empty chaired’ at a National Farmers’ Union hustings yesterday in Warwickshire – after the frontrunner refused to take part.

Mr Sunak’s team said Ms Truss’s absence “raises questions about her willingness to listen to the needs of farmers and the wider food industry”.

But the two leadership rivals went up against each other in a GB News hustings in Manchester – alongside Tory members.