Sir Keir Starmer has returned from a Nato summit in Washington to prepare for his second step on the world stage: hosting a European forum in Britain, something his predecessor Rishi Sunak had hoped would not happen.
On Thursday, Starmer will attempt to “reset” Britain’s strained post-Brexit relations with Europe when the prime minister gathers more than 45 leaders at Blenheim Palace – the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill – for a one-day summit of the European Political Community.
The EPC, the brainchild of French President Emmanuel Macron, is often seen in diplomatic circles as a grand forum for discussions between EU countries and other states, including the UK and Turkey.
Liz Truss joined Britain during her brief tenure as prime minister and attended her first summit in Prague in 2022.
For Sunak, who lost last week’s UK election, the prospect of hosting the rally was a major distraction as he prepared to face voters and he repeatedly delayed setting a date for it.
“There were a lot of things going on and there was some uncertainty about whether it was going to happen,” said an ally of the former prime minister. “It only happened because the French pushed very hard.”
Starmer, who will host the French president for dinner at 18th-century Blenheim Palace after the summit, will be grateful to Macron for his persistence.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for Keir Starmer,” said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, a British think tank. “It will bring together a lot of European leaders in one room. The timing couldn’t be better.”
British officials say Starmer will use the Blenheim Palace event to outline his hopes for improving UK-EU relations, although, as Grant notes, there is a “slight lingering concern that he doesn’t know what he wants to do”.
The Prime Minister has made clear that he sees a UK-EU security pact as a building block for better relations, but his insistence that it will not bring Britain back into the EU, the single market, the customs union or the free movement regime is a huge obstacle.
He will seek a deal to end food supply delays at the border due to a shortage of vets, as well as mutual recognition of professional qualifications. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has said Labour could try to align Britain’s chemicals rules with the EU.
But the EU has consistently resisted what it sees as “cherry-picking” of single market benefits and is likely to demand a high price for any deal that significantly improves the UK’s access to EU markets.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called for a “reset” of relations, although the Commission itself is broadly satisfied with the trade deal struck with Boris Johnson’s government in 2020. Brussels is very reluctant to rewrite the agreement when it comes up for review in 2026.
Eric Mamer, the Commission spokesman, said this week that it was up to London to make the first move. Brussels has an “open mind” about new deals with the UK, but the current arrangements are based on a “series of red lines set by the UK”, he said.
The EPC agenda conveniently feeds into Starmer’s plan to use security as a springboard to better relations, with a strong focus on the war in Ukraine.
Discussions include a plenary session on EU security, followed by three panels on migration, defending democracy, energy and connectivity, as well as strawberries and cream and around 800 scones.
“I said I would change the way the UK engages with our European partners, working collaboratively to drive progress on these generational challenges,” Starmer said ahead of the meeting. “That work starts as soon as the European Policy Community meets on Thursday.”
The idea of using Britain’s security assets – including its powerful military and intelligence services – to foster better relations with the EU after Brexit had also been considered by the previous Conservative government.
Officials dusted off proposals to strengthen the UK-EU security relationship that were drawn up more than 18 months ago before Whitehall’s attention turned to work on the Windsor Framework, a deal to settle a Brexit trade dispute in Northern Ireland.
Starmer said during his visit to Washington that he had discussed the idea of a “formal mechanism” for security cooperation between the UK and the EU in bilateral meetings at the NATO summit, and that a plan to repair post-Brexit damage had been welcomed by allies.
US President Joe Biden told Starmer: “I see you as sort of the knot that binds the transatlantic alliance together, as you move closer to Europe.”
The idea of the UK as a link for Washington between a free-trade American model and a more state-based European continental model collapsed after the Brexit vote in 2016.
“After Brexit, the UK felt that it had become too inward-looking and that it was no longer as interested as it used to be in its place on the world stage,” Starmer said at the end of the NATO summit. “The UK is confident and back.”
Speaking about his plans to strengthen relations with Brussels, Starmer told the Financial Times: “We can work more with our EU partners on security. I think that’s a good thing for us and for them.”
The UK’s new posture will involve increased trade and investment with international partners, as well as deeper cooperation on tackling climate change, Starmer said.
British Defence Secretary John Healey had earlier said his country would seek to join more EU military programmes, warning the world faced “a decade or more” of Russian aggression.
Britain already participates in a defence cooperation programme, Pesco, which aims to facilitate the transport of military equipment across the continent. Healey declined to say what other programmes the UK was interested in joining.
He stressed that while Britain wants to conclude a comprehensive security pact with the Union, such an agreement is not necessary for closer integration with its defence programmes or for agreements with member states. He ruled out Britain joining a European defence force.
Labour is looking to secure a security deal with Germany by the end of the year, diplomats said, with Starmer seeking to meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the European Football Championship final in Berlin on Sunday to further discuss the scope of any agreement.
Starmer joked that England only win men’s football trophies when Labour is in power – the last time was in 1966. A victory for Gareth Southgate’s side on Sunday would be another stroke of luck for the new prime minister as he introduces himself to the world.
