Boris Johnson tried it before, but it didn\u2019t work out: the populist politician\u2019s \u201cvision\u201d of leading \u201cGlobal Britain\u201d in the post-Brexit era turned out to be a chimera. Now, Keir Starmer is trying it \u2013 under different circumstances and with a different goal. Will he succeed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taking advantage of the explosive international situation, the British prime minister (who is described as \u201clukewarm\u201d and \u201csmall\u201d at home) is attempting to emerge as a leading figure on a global scale, promoting a dynamic, multi-layered foreign policy agenda based on three pillars: strengthening his country\u2019s relations with the United States, supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia, and upgrading Britain\u2019s cooperation with the European Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The succession of recent events has temporarily put Starmer in a much more advantageous position than even he could have imagined: he appears at the same time as Trump’s privileged interlocutor, the main mediator between the US and Zelensky, and a bridge builder between Europe and Washington. But situations change day by day and what the current situation shows can hardly last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Summit<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last Sunday, Starmer hosted a summit in London with European leaders (but not Kyriakos Mitsotakis), during which he stressed Europe\u2019s responsibility to support Ukraine, warning that the Old Continent is at a \u201ccrossroads of history\u201d and that it \u201cmust act decisively.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UK and France have pledged to lead an \u201calliance of the willing\u201d to strengthen Ukraine\u2019s defence capabilities, including \u00a31.6bn in export financing and the possibility of Kiev acquiring anti-aircraft missiles. A month-long ceasefire in Ukraine is being proposed to assess Russia\u2019s intentions and lay the groundwork for a comprehensive peace deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the implementation of the controversial plan requires practical support from the other side of the Atlantic, as American guarantees are considered essential for achieving lasting peace. Starmer sets a parallel priority on closer rapprochement with the US and has set out to build a personal relationship with Donald Trump, despite their abysmal ideological differences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their recent meeting at the White House, in which the British prime minister handed the American president a handwritten invitation from King Charles III for a second state visit to Old Albion, demonstrates the British prime minister\u2019s will to ensure that the famous \u201cspecial relationship\u201d between the two countries continues to exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Starmer is not interested in achieving ideological or political alignment with Trump, but in exercising a well-calculated, results-oriented diplomacy: he focuses on practical issues, such as trade relations, security guarantees for Ukraine, and preventing the imposition of punitive tariffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump, for his part, has begun to\u2026 like his English interlocutor (whom he once called \u201cvery left-wing\u201d), complimenting him on his \u201cbeautiful accent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resetting relations with the EU<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The British leader is trying to establish a leading role for Britain on the international political stage. At the same time, he is investing heavily in restarting his country\u2019s relationship with the European Union and reviewing bilateral cooperation in areas such as defense, energy security, science and technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In May, Starmer will host the UK\u2019s first summit with the EU, which he sees as an opportunity to strengthen EU-UK cooperation on a wide range of issues: from migrants crossing the Channel to vegetable imports. He believes, in fact, that he can forge closer ties with both America and the EU and envisions Britain as a \u201cbridge\u201d between the US and the eurozone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Labour leader is doing everything he can to improve his image both abroad and at home, where \u2013 according to a YouGov poll \u2013 52% of his compatriots consider him \u201cincompetent\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, his strategy is high-risk. \u201cI think that Starmer\u2019s three goals for Britain \u2013 maintaining the special relationship with the US, strengthening Ukraine and rapprochement with the EU \u2013 are not only difficult to achieve on their own, but also contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we saw last week, developments are being driven by Trump\u2019s actions and outbursts. It is difficult to imagine how Starmer will be able to maintain his skillful position in the next outburst of the American president. One of the three goals will have to give way and, if I had to bet, I would say that what Britain will ultimately sacrifice will be its relationship with Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Boris Johnson tried it before, but it didn\u2019t work out: the populist politician\u2019s \u201cvision\u201d of leading \u201cGlobal Britain\u201d in the post-Brexit era turned out…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[818,390],"tags":[3944,2019,216],"class_list":["post-23310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-politics","tag-great-britain","tag-keir-starmer","tag-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23310"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23312,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23310\/revisions\/23312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}