Mr Starmer visits the White House

The Labour prime minister has restored Britain's standing in Washington. The bigger challenge is to build a European defence pillar

It says something of the depths to which Britain’s international reputation plummeted under the Conservatives that it has taken the election of a Labour government to restore the nation’s standing in Washington. Keir Starmer is being welcomed this week at the White House. By the end, Boris Johnson was all but barred. Rishi Sunak was admitted on sufferance.

Brexit blew up the European pillar of Britain’s foreign policy. The Conservatives then proceeded to demolish the transatlantic column. Johnson, of course, got on well with Donald Trump. They were both good liars. The prime minister then did everything he could to invite Joe Biden’s anger. The transatlantic relationship has always had its ups and downs, but Biden made little secret of a deep loathing for Johnson. 

The “special relationship”, as Britain has liked to style it, used to be the property of the Conservatives. A product of the uniquely close collaboration between Churchill and Roosevelt during the second world war, it was sanctified by Harold Macmillan after the Suez debacle stripped Britain of its remaining great power illusions. It was never better described, as least in British eyes, than when Margaret Thatcher danced on the world stage with Ronald Reagan.

Even then it was not trouble-free. For all their willingness to indulge Britain’s claim to “specialness”, the Americans never forgot they were in charge. When Reagan decided to invade Grenada, a member of the British Commonwealth, he waited until the marines were on their way before telling Thatcher. The Lady was not best pleased.

Traditionally, Labour governments have been viewed with a certain suspicion in Washington. Too left-wing for most American politicians. Biden’s administration has done its best to signal that Starmer’s election marks a comprehensive reset. This week secretary of state Anthony Blinken travelled to Kyiv with foreign secretary David Lammy. Days earlier CIA director William Burns shared a public stage with Britain’s top spook, SIS chief Richard Moore.

The encounter between the two leaders will be the second in the Oval Office since Starmer’s July victory. According to the White House, Biden “will underscore the importance of continuing to strengthen the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.”

The agenda writes itself: support for Ukraine, sanctions against Iran following its supply of ballistic missiles to Russia, Israel’s war on Gaza in the Middle East, defence of Red Sea shipping against Yemen’s Houthis and Chinese sabre-rattling in the South China Sea. The two leaders will not agree on everything. Washington lobbied against the Starmer government’s bar on export licences for some arms sales to Israel. Britain has been out ahead of the US in permitting Ukraine to use western weapons against military targets in Russia. 

Such differences are healthy. Britain benefits from a strong relationship with the US. It does not have to be a supplicant. The ties survived Harold Wilson’s refusal to send British forces to Vietnam. Tony Blair forgot the history. His decision to join George W Bush in the disastrous war against Iraq flowed from the mistaken belief that a British prime minister cannot afford to say no to Washington. France has shown that lasting alliances need not be built on servility.

Starmer has a pressing reason to bear all this in mind. If Donald Trump wins November’s presidential election, rebuilding the relationship will dissolve into a pipedream. The only thing that can be predicted about a second-term Trump’s attitude to Europe is that it will be capricious and ultimately destructive. Whether or not he manages to take the US out of Nato (most likely, unlikely) or succeeds in forcing Ukraine to surrender to Vladimir Putin’s militarism (also, I think, unlikely) a Trump presidency would threaten the future of the Atlantic alliance.

For Britain, there lies the reminder that its foreign policy needs a European pillar. Starmer’s visits to European capitals have been encouraging. And for all the post-Brexit complications there are reasonable hopes that Britain can conclude a political and security pact with the European Union. But a Trump victory would greatly increase the urgency of deepening defence collaboration with European allies. 

Whatever the outcome of the US election, the lesson of Ukraine is that Europe needs to do a lot more to guarantee its own security, preferably within Nato. Among the many fantasies of the Johnson premiership was the idea Britain could tilt towards Asia. That policy has been torn up by Vladimir Putin’s war. But Britain has still to decide how big a role it will play in a new European security system. 

The mistake made by too many of Starmer’s predecessors in Downing Street has been to imagine that they face a choice between the Atlantic and the Channel. Never has it been clearer that these are not alternatives. Trump or otherwise, US attention will continue to turn towards its rivalry with China. Starmer has done well to remake friends in Washington. The bigger challenge lies in helping to build credible European security arrangements.