World leaders are beginning to wake up to the possibility of a Labour government next year. President Emmanuel Macron risked irritating Rishi Sunak when he met Keir Starmer in Paris on 19 September, just before Charles III’s visit. And the Labour leader, who already has a good relationship with Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, had been the star of the show at the gathering of progressive leaders in Montreal the previous weekend.
If Labour wins the election there will be a wave of relief among our partners and allies around the world after years of mendacious and incompetent Conservative governments. I remember the elation with which Tony Blair was received in 1997 by our allies after 18 years of Tory rule. A similar wave of euphoria would carry Keir Starmer a long way after the election, and it may be even greater than that which greeted Blair, given the depth of the damage that has been inflicted on Britain’s standing in the world, particularly over the past six years. He will, however, need a worked-out strategy, rather than just a warm reception, to reclaim our global influence. That strategy starts with a diagnosis of what has gone wrong.
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