Five years after she left the European Union, Britain finally found a new role on the global scene – a concert that looks curiously like his old one.
For a frantic several weeks of President Trump increased the transatlantic alliance With his foreplay to Russia and Rift with Ukraine, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer tried to act as a bridge between Europe and the United States.
Mr. Starmer and his best helpers Counseling President Volodymyr Zelsky from Ukraine In telephone calls and personal meetings on how to repair fences with Mr. Trump after their meeting in the White House. The Prime Minister vigorously lobbied for the US President for security guarantees to discourage President Vladimir V. Putin from Russia from future aggression.
In his highly wire diplomacy, Mr. Starmer revives the role of Britain, which is commonly played before Brexit. He has a comparison with Tony Blair, the previous work prime minister, who tried to convey between President George W. Bush and the European leaders in full leadership to the Iraq War in 2003.
Building bridges Mr. Blair did not end well, of course: France and Germany refused to join the “coalition of willing” Mr. Bush against Iraq and Britain Alignment With the United States, their relations with its European neighbors have grown.
Now as Mr. Starmer puts together a new one “Coalition“To protect Ukraine, they face a similarly complex equalization act. He holds near the United States and is trying to make the European military discouraging Marshal to convince Mr. Trump to provide the US air cover and intelligence support for peace soldiers.
On Saturday, Mr. Starmer convenes a meeting of a virtual summit of up to 25 leaders, from Europe, NATO, Canada, Ukraine, Australia and New Zealand, to the assembly of its coalition, which Britain lies in France. It is expected to announce other countries that will provide units or logistical support for a coalition that is designed as a shield against Russia after a peace settlement with Ukraine.
After talking to leaders using video conferencing, Mr. Starmer is likely to continue his lobbying campaign with Mr. Trump for security guarantees – the efforts shared President Emmanuel Macron France.
Whether Mr. Starmer and Mr. Macron succeed is guessing, given that Mr. Trump turned between the bitter Justification of Ukraine And the threats to store sanctions on Russia. This week, Mr. Putin responded carefully to the offer of a 30 -day ceasefire of Ukraine and the United States, while rejecting all interviews about European peaceful power.
“Of course there is a risk,” said Peter Rickets, a British diplomat who worked as a counselor for National Security to Prime Minister David Cameron. “But I think Starmer sees a greater risk of disaster that can be avoided.”
Mr. Blair, said he failed as a bridge, because the division between the European nations over Iraq was unsurpassed. Mr. Starmer’s challenge is the erratic US president who seems to be determined to reset relations with Russia and is openly hostile to the European Union.
“Starmer will try not to choose between Europe and the US,” Ricketts said. When he dealt with Mr. Trump, he added, “He makes him vulnerable to sudden outages, but so far he has managed to stay on the rope.”
Mr. Starmer, he said, helped him his seasoned And a widely respected National Security Adviser, Jonathan Powell, who traveled to Kiev, the Ukrainian capital to help lay the foundations for the convergence of Mr. Zelena with the White House and to Washington this week to consult Mr. Trump Michael Waltz.
Mr. Powell, a one -time chief of the staff of Mr. Blair, worked as a British main negotiator for a big Friday agreement that ended the decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. He was also at hand for Mr. Blair’s infertile efforts to bring France and Germany in the military campaign against Iraq.
Even before the crisis of Ukraine was released, Mr. Starmer’s government was looking for closer ties with the continent, not only about defense and security, but also for trade and economic policy.
But thanks to Brexit, Mr. Trump seems to place Britain in a different category than the European Union, which can help make Mr. Starmer more effective broker. For example, the President has suggested that he does not have to target Britain with extensive tariffs, although he did not deserve it from a global tariff to steel and aluminum.
“Having one leg inside, one leg is a good thing for the United Kingdom in the current context,” said Mujtaba Rahman, analyst of Eurasia Group Political, “but only if we stay in the current state of false war.”
“If this happens to the real transatlantic cracks,” Mr. Rahman continued, “then it is better to have the protection the EU offers, at least in some areas.” And in such a context, the United Kingdom would direct things better if it had two tracks. ”
Initially, Mr. Starmer’s connection with a block was clearly half a step. After he came to power last July, he decided to repair post-Brexit relations in various European capitals, but excluded two striking measures that could significantly strengthen trade: re-connecting to the block of the giant one-off market and its customs union.
His cautious approach, as analysts claims, is rooted in the fear of angry voters supporting Brexit and gives ammunition Nigel Farage, Brexit champion and leader against the immigration side of the UK, which appeared in public opinion surveys.
However, shock waves caused by the recent statements of Mr. Trump in Ukraine and Russia have swept some roadblocks to a wider reset. They provided Mr. Starmer’s political envelope, and even those on the right in Britain recognized the need for greater coordination for European defense.
“It will change the whole context and build everything else in the perspective,” said Mr. Rickets, who served as an ambassador in France.
Ivan Rogers, a former British Ambassador to the European Union, said that Mr. Starmer’s diplomatic lifting impressed other European leaders who got used to Britain who was either absent or vaguely antagonistic.
“All of this reminded people that the British had been involved and could have been more serious,” said Mr. Rogers. “Now you are facing such an existential crisis in the EU that the mood has changed a little.”
This could open the way to a deeper British re -involvement, especially if Europeans decide to increase cooperation with military expenses by creating a new initiative outside the existing structures of the European Union. Such an initiative could include countries, including Britain, to agree to common standards on questions such as military subsidies and arms contracts.
This would basically “create a defensive unified market that has never been there before,” said Mr. Rogers.
For all potential legs, Mr. Rogers, who worked during the Iraqi War in Downing Street, said he feared the British role of the transatlantic bridge would prevent his efforts to use his status after Brexit to avoid the tariffs stored by Mr. Trump.
“I’m worried that others might seem that the United Kingdom wants to have both,” said Mr. Rogers. “We want to be a bridge, have a transatlantic alliance, be central to him, and at the same time arguing that he is very different from the EU and the US can free us from their customs action.”
“It’s a little difficult,” he said, “to run both arguments at once.”
