Quite the contrast! Moment Albania’s 6ft 7in Prime Minister gushingly takes a knee as he meets Italy’s 5ft 3in PM – days after towering over Keir Starmer during their meeting in Tirana

It was quite the contrast to his humiliation of Sir Keir Starmer on live TV just a day earlier.

Albania’s Edi Rama dramatically knelt before his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni today as she arrived at his gathering of European leaders.

Putting his umbrella to one side as she strode towards him on the red carpet, he then put his hands together as if in prayer before they embraced.

The 6ft 7ins Prime Minister, a former professional basketball player, has made similar gestures to 5ft 3ins Ms Meloni at other public events in recent months.

And she joked that he only does so because of their great difference in height.

‘He only does this to be as tall as me,’ the Italian PM told reporters as she arrived at the European Political Community summit.

However Mr Rama made no such concession to 5ft 8ins Sir Keir, whom he also towered over during their shared press conference on Thursday.

Rama, who won a fourth term as PM on Sunday, loomed large over his 5ft 8in British counterpart and humiliated him over his latest attempt at a migrant crackdown.

Clambering to ‘smash the gangs’, Sir Keir used a trip to Tirana to unveil plans to create Rwanda-style centres abroad to house failed asylum seekers from the UK. 

Standing at two podiums in front of the Union Jack and Albanian flags, there was a notable disparity between the two leaders.

Not only was Sir Keir dwarfed by his Albanian counterpart in size, he was then subjected to a televised rebuke that has left Labour red-faced and the Conservatives laughing.

Addressing the media, Starmer revealed Britain was ‘in talks with a number of countries about return hubs’ – a scheme where asylum seekers would be sent back to their home country if they have exhausted all of their options in the UK.

In a moment he may be living to regret, he then suggested he would be speaking about the idea with Mr Rama.

But puffing his chest out and publicly dunking the PM, Mr Rama said: ‘We have been asked by several countries if we were open to it, and we said no, because we are loyal to the marriage with Italy and the rest is just love.’

Overshadowing the PM’s migration crackdown attempt, the white-trainer-wearing leader explained: ‘I have been very clear since day one when we started this process with Italy that this was a one off with Italy because of our very close relation but also because of the geographical situation which makes a lot of sense.’ 

It marked a major blow for the Labour Party who just days ago launched an immigration crackdown as Sir Keir pledged to ‘tighten up every area of the immigration system’.

In stark contrast, it was a sharp response from Mr Rama, who extended his record as Albania’s longest-serving leader since the fall of communism as he was elected for a fourth term on Sunday.

His Socialist Party secured 52 per cent of the vote against the Democratic Party, led by 80-year-old ex-PM Sali Berisha.

Mr Rama is well respected by both European and American leaders, who see him as a stabalising force in the Balkan region. The PM, who studied art in Paris as a young man, has led Albania’s bid to pull away from Russia and be friendly with Europe.

Albania has also become a popular European destination, with more than 10 million foreign visitors flocking to its stunning Riviera each year.