{"id":89014,"date":"2024-07-06T11:25:13","date_gmt":"2024-07-06T11:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/06\/britains-new-leader-is-about-to-get-a-crash-course-in-statecraft\/"},"modified":"2024-07-06T11:25:13","modified_gmt":"2024-07-06T11:25:13","slug":"britains-new-leader-is-about-to-get-a-crash-course-in-statecraft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/06\/britains-new-leader-is-about-to-get-a-crash-course-in-statecraft\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s New Leader Is About to Get a Crash Course in Statecraft"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/07\/06\/multimedia\/06uk-global\/06uk-global-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Britain\u2019s New Leader Is About to Get a Crash Course in Statecraft\" title=\"Britain\u2019s New Leader Is About to Get a Crash Course in Statecraft\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain will barely get his feet under the desk in 10 Downing Street before he flies to Washington this coming week to attend a NATO summit. A week after that, he will play host to 50 European leaders at a security meeting at Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It\u2019s a crash course in global statecraft for Mr. Starmer, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/04\/world\/europe\/keir-starmer-uk.html\" title=\"\">Britain\u2019s first Labour prime minister in 14 years<\/a>. But it will also give him the chance to project an image of Britain that is uncharacteristic in the post-Brexit era: a stable, conventional, center-left country amid a churning tide of politically unsettled allies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Washington, Mr. Starmer will encounter President Biden, who is resisting calls to abandon his race for re-election because of age-related decline. He will meet with President Emmanuel Macron, whose attempt to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/30\/world\/europe\/france-elections.html\" title=\"\">fend off the far right<\/a> in France appears to have backfired, and with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, whose coalition has been <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/12\/world\/europe\/election-germany-olaf-scholz.html\" title=\"\">weakened by the advance of the hard right<\/a> in European Parliament elections.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Starmer\u2019s <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2024\/07\/05\/world\/europe\/uk-election-results-map-vote-share.html\" title=\"\">success with Labour<\/a> may raise hopes among some that Britain\u2019s embrace of a center-left party could be replicated in France and the United States. But it is equally plausible that Britain could be a harbinger of something else: an anti-incumbent revolt and simmering populism, embodied in Britain by the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/04\/world\/europe\/farage-parliament-reform-election.html\" title=\"\">insurgent Reform party<\/a>, that could play out elsewhere. That was the case in 2016, when voters backed the Brexit referendum six months before the United States elected Donald J. Trump.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Britain\u2019s shift to Labour, analysts pointed out, was not about ideology so much as about fatigue with a Conservative government and distrust of political institutions in general. That same fatigue exists in France, under an unpopular centrist president, and in the United States, under an aging Democratic one.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For now, however, diplomats said that Mr. Starmer\u2019s remarkable election victory would give him a sheen of political stardust with his fellow leaders, for whom such victories have been in short supply lately.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe huge victory means that he\u2019ll be mobbed at the NATO summit,\u201d said Kim Darroch, who served as Britain\u2019s ambassador to Washington. \u201cEveryone will want to talk to him; everyone will want a selfie with him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Depending on how the American presidential election goes, Mr. Starmer could someday even find himself in a position not unlike that of another German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who was viewed as a bulwark of the rules-based international order when Mr. Trump was president.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For Mr. Starmer to assume that mantle, however, he will have to find a way to jump-start Britain\u2019s economy, according to Mr. Darroch. Diplomatic power correlates with economic power, and Britain\u2019s anemic economy \u2014 combined with its <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/news-event\/britain-brexit-european-union\" title=\"\">decision to leave the European Union<\/a> \u2014 has diminished the country\u2019s role in international affairs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Darroch also said that Mr. Starmer should overcome his reputation for caution and try to do something bold with Europe. He has ruled out rejoining the bloc\u2019s vast single economic market, since that would mean allowing people from Europe the freedom to live and work in Britain, or its customs union, which would mean accepting some of the bloc\u2019s rules on tariffs and duties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Any significant deal would involve difficult trade-offs, but Mr. Starmer, who opposed leaving the European Union, does not carry the baggage of Conservative predecessors like Boris Johnson, who fronted the Brexit campaign and cultivated a reputation as someone who relished a scrap with Europeans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey haven\u2019t been insulted by Labour the way they were by the Tories,\u201d said Mr. Darroch, who also served as Britain\u2019s permanent representative to the European Union. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t have that legacy; he doesn\u2019t have that baggage.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Starmer traveled widely abroad when he was a human rights lawyer. But his expertise does not lie in foreign policy, and during the election campaign, he mainly sought to avoid significant daylight with the Conservative government on the two major issues of the day: the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Starmer has pledged to maintain Britain\u2019s military support of Ukraine, which has enjoyed broad public backing from the start of the war. As Labour Party leader, he worked hard to shake off a reputation for hostility to NATO and suspicion of the military that had taken root under his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cOne of the things that was disastrous under Corbyn is that he didn\u2019t have a commitment to NATO, he didn\u2019t have commitment to defense, and people didn\u2019t like that,\u201d said Robert Ford, a professor of political science at the University of Manchester.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israel and Gaza pose a trickier issue for Mr. Starmer. He has called for a cease-fire in the conflict, but he took awhile to get there, which angered those on the left wing of his party, as well as Muslim supporters of Labour.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The electoral reverberations were greater than expected. Jonathan Ashworth, a Labour lawmaker who was likely to be appointed to Mr. Starmer\u2019s cabinet, unexpectedly lost his seat in the Leicester south district to Shockat Adam, an independent who declared, \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/video\/this-is-for-people-of-gaza-shockat-adam-takes-labours-jonathan-ashworths-leicester-south-seat-13173433\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">This is for the people of Gaza<\/a>,\u201d during his victory speech.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even Mr. Starmer\u2019s share of the vote in his own North London seat <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/election\/2024\/uk\/constituencies\/E14001290\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">reduced by 17 percentage points<\/a> compared with the election in 2019,<span class=\"css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0\">  <\/span>in part because of a challenge by an independent who voiced anger with Labour\u2019s stance on Israel and the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israel may continue to vex Mr. Starmer, much as it has Mr. Biden and Mr. Macron. Both faced criticism for sticking too long with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and for not more forcefully condemning Israel\u2019s conduct of the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">David Lammy, who was appointed foreign secretary by Mr. Starmer on Friday, described his boss\u2019s approach to the war as shaped by his background as a human rights lawyer. He said in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/21\/world\/europe\/david-lammy-interview-obama-trump.html\" title=\"\">an interview in April<\/a> that Mr. Starmer would continue to support Israel but demand that it comply with international law.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe situation in Gaza is a description of hell on Earth,\u201d Mr. Lammy said. \u201cMan-made famine, no significant medical assistance at all, people eating cactus. The Labour Party has played the best role it could as an opposition party.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Lammy has said that a Labour government will fuse progressive values with a realistic approach to the world \u2014 a formula he called \u201cprogressive realism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere was a lot of magical thinking in the Boris Johnson, Theresa May, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak period,\u201d Mr. Lammy said, referring to the four Conservative prime ministers who preceded Mr. Starmer. \u201cAnd a harking back to an era long gone, and not enough focus on today\u2019s challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/06\/world\/europe\/keir-starmer-uk-labour.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain will barely get his feet under the desk in 10 Downing Street before he flies to Washington this coming week to attend a NATO summit. A week after that, he will play host to 50 European leaders at a security meeting at Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/07\/06\/multimedia\/06uk-global\/06uk-global-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8243,21,1891,76941],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89014"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89014"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89016,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89014\/revisions\/89016"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}