Boris Johnson and Donald Trump managed to sneak away from the hustle and bustle of the NATO conference for a quick late night meeting.
The UK and US leader found time to sit down together for a head-to-head in Downing Street at the end of Tuesday.
They spoke about the importance of the NATO military alliance and trade - but unusually there were no photos of the two men sitting down together. It was not pre-announced by No10. And it came after furious speculation that the pair would duck meeting for fear Trump could derail the election.
When asked about the encounter while on Sky News this morning, Johnson said: "We had a very good meeting.
"We discussed the future of NATO, what's going on in Syria and various other security matters."
While Trump tweeted: "Enjoyed my meeting with Prime Minister
Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom at 10 DowningStreet
last night. Talked about numerous subjects including NATO and Trade."
Whether or not the two men would meet during the two day conference was a point of contention yesterday.
Johnson was accused of being afraid of Trump when it became clear he had not organised a formal meeting with him.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed there were no plans to have the leaders meet one-on-one as of yesterday morning.
During his appearance on BBC's Today programme, Nick Robinson said: "Just to confirm though, Boris Johnson is not having a bilateral meeting with the President of the United States, I think in fact making him the first British PM to behave that way."
Mr Raab replied: "No, I don’t think so Nick."
This morning Johnson was asked why he was avoiding posing for a photograph alongside Trump.
"I'm going to be photographed with every possible leader of Nato and we're having a very successful meeting," he replied.
There has been much speculation surrounding the relationship between Johnson and Trump and whether the UK Government is deliberately keeping the US leader at an arm's length.
Trump is deeply unpopular in the UK, with more than two thirds of people polled by YouGov having an actively negative opinion of him.
Over the summer the US President caused eyebrows to raise when he said people in the UK referred to Johnson as 'Britain Trump'.
"They like me over there, that's what they wanted," he added.
With the General Election eight days away, the government appears uneasy about inviting Trump's often unpredictable influence into the limelight.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump said he would not comment on the election, saying he did not want to "complicate" matters — before promptly endorsing Johnson as "competent."
The US President did help Johnson out however when he said that he did not want to NHS to be part of a potential future trade deal between the UK and US.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been suggesting that US pharmaceutical firms are keen to get their hands on the British health service as part of his general election campaign.
