What Washington thinks of Keir Starmer

4 months ago 4

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WASHINGTON — Keir Starmer was given a hero’s welcome by senior Democrats in Washington last week.

In a procession of meetings with U.S. President Joe Biden, top White House officials and Democrats in Congress last week the new British prime minister was showered with praise and affection after delivering a historic victory for the U.K. Labour Party, according to several people with knowledge of the talks.

The current turmoil within the Democratic Party, disastrously split over whether Biden should withdraw from the presidential race over his age and mental state, has left some looking toward their British sister party as a rare beacon of hope for the center left.

Labour’s win is particularly salient for unhappy Democrats given the poll leads Donald Trump currently enjoys over Biden, with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee now hot favorite with bookmakers to win back the White House in November.

Few expect the shocking attempt on Trump’s life on Saturday to do anything but boost his chances — and notably, Starmer made a point of calling the former president Sunday to wish him a rapid recovery.

One member of Congress from the Democrats, granted anonymity to speak frankly — like others in this piece — said “the one bright spot for me out of the last few weeks is seeing the massive defeat suffered by the [U.K.] Conservatives.”

“Keir Starmer is an incredibly normal, well-meaning, intelligent public servant who is doing the job for the right reasons,” they said.

“I’m looking forward to having the U.K. back as a reliable partner. He will bring some normality to Downing Street.”

The Democrats, after all, love a winner. This is a political party more interested in power than intellectual navel-gazing — something which, historically, can’t always be said about U.K. Labour — and has a powerful electoral machine to match.

It means Starmer’s historic victory over the Conservative Party — which suffered its worst-ever electoral result on July 4 — has given him an elevated level of credibility among Washington elites … for the time being, at least.

Right at home

Conversations within Washington Democratic circles reveal just how much effort senior Labour Party figures have put into building a coalition with the leading lights of their American sister party.

U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Starmer’s top political strategist Morgan McSweeney are both well-known figures among D.C. Democrats.

McSweeney even took part in a virtual forum with Barack Obama’s erstwhile aide — and ubiquitous broadcast pundit — David Axelrod in the days after the July 4 election, one person in attendance told POLITICO.

The pair spoke about communications, political strategy and the future of progressive politics in front of an online audience of Democrat political operatives from across the U.S.

Top Democrat aides draw similarities between McSweeney’s masterplan to bring Labour back into government just five years after a disastrous electoral defeat, and Biden’s famous presidential victory in 2020.

Starmer, like Biden, focused on winning back working class voters through bread-and-butter policies like improving public services and spending big on infrastructure.

“He just fits, man,” a former senior White House Democrat aide said of Starmer.

“[Starmer] is a party leader who changed central things about his party to make it not just electable, but reconnected with working people. His efforts are instructive for those of us trying to navigate the political and cultural moment in the U.S.”

Senator Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s running partner in the 2016 presidential election, said Starmer’s early steps to move the U.K. closer to Europe have also been warmly welcomed in Democrat circles.

“Without saying it, it seemed like [Starmer] was saying the … years of Brexit have been an English withdrawal from leadership, including defensive leadership, and he intends to be more forward-leaning,” Kaine said.

Biden himself made similar comments at the start of his first bilateral meeting with Starmer in the White House on Wednesday, telling British journalists that the “the closer you are with Europe,” the stronger the transatlantic alliance will be.

But another Democrat senator, Chris Murphy, suggested some of the goodwill toward Starmer’s government is for more prosaic reasons, noting that the “revolving door of Conservative leadership has been difficult for the United States.”

“We tend to have a pretty tight and coordinated relationship with Britain, no matter whether Conservatives or Labour is in charge,” he said. “I think it’s probably just more important that we, you know, have a prime minister for more than six months.”

Lessons to learn

The U.K. Labour Party has closely followed Biden’s lead on economic and industrial policy, with a focus on using the green transition to reindustrialize left-behind areas.

Biden has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on improving infrastructure, boosting America’s green energy industries and supporting domestic production of semiconductors.

Starmer’s Labour Party quickly recognized the same need for Britain — but then decided to significantly dial back its green industrial spending plan earlier this year.

Starmer’s top finance spokeswoman — now the U.K. chancellor — Rachel Reeves U-turned on a plan to spend £28 billion a year on green energy infrastructure, fearing it would be branded profligate during the looming election campaign. Instead Labour intends to spend just £23.7 billion on its “Green Prosperity Plan” over a five-year period, on top of the £10 billion per year already committed by the previous government.

One White House aide suggested Labour needs to be bolder, warning it would not trigger the economic growth Britain needs with such small sums.

The aide also suggested Starmer should move quickly on improving housing and health care — two areas Biden’s administration has struggled to take meaningful action on due to issues getting legislation through Congress.

“Because we weren’t able to improve these areas enough, some highly [economically] insecure people still feel that way,” the aide said. “Older people can say this is an amazing economy — because it is right now — but if you don’t have secure housing and services then you won’t necessarily feel it.”

McSweeney is acutely aware of the electoral problems facing the Democrats in power, and has been sharing academic papers with colleagues which describe how Biden’s ability to build a strong economy has not been enough to maintain his popularity.

Mates with the MAGAs

Starmer is also painfully aware his new friends in Washington may not be in charge for much longer.

Senior Labour figures have been reaching out to people close to Donald Trump, hoping to build a strong network of MAGA Republicans who have the ear of the former president. U.K. Foreign Secretary Lammy has led the charge, meeting with Trump allies in Congress and members of the official campaign team in recent months.

The outreach has been suprisingly successful. Several top Republicans have made it clear that Starmer is a guy they think Trump can work with.

Senator Josh Hawley, a close Trump ally, said he had no doubt U.K. Labour and U.S. Republicans would be able to maintain a successful transatlantic relationship if Trump wins in November.

“That relationship’s been so stable across governments for almost 100 years now,” Hawley said.

Former Trump adviser Elbridge Colby, tipped for a senior position in a second Trump White House, has also been full of praise for Labour.

He told POLITICO’s Power Play podcast in May that he preferred Lammy to then-Conservative Foreign Secretary David Cameron. And he told The Telegraph last week that he, like Biden, was supportive of Starmer’s plans to move Britain closer to Europe.

“Britain obviously is located in Europe, so its interests are more engaged there, and that’s where there’s a gap in the overall American-led order of military capability,” he said.

Nevertheless, the reality of dealing with an erratic, outspoken president would undoubtedly prove challenging for Starmer.

Katie Perrior, ex-communications director in No. 10 Downing Street, said her old boss Theresa May had “huge difficulty” in dealing with Trump when she was U.K. prime minister, and that she “needed a strategy for every conversation.”

“Trump is a bully. He tries to bully everyone who he speaks to and in every interaction there will be one winner and one loser — and he doesn’t intend to be the loser,” Perrior said.

But Perrior said she still backed Starmer’s ability to handle Trump — who, she notes, values winning above all else.

“[Starmer’s] smart, so he will have a strategy and plan like Theresa May — but he’s also in a different position because he’s a winner with a massive majority. Trump respects winners,” she said.

“If he can transform the [Labour] party and outfox most players in that, then I think he can handle Trump.”

Anthony Adragna and Miles Herszenhorn contributed reporting.

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