Thursday’s European leaders’ summit in Oxfordshire is a well-timed opportunity for the new UK prime minister to reset relations.
LONDON — Keir Starmer wants to reset Britain’s relationship with Europe. Thanks to his Tory predecessors, he has the perfect opportunity. On Thursday — less than a fortnight into the new job — Britain’s new prime minister will host more than 40 of the continent’s leaders at a European Political Community summit at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire.
The timing, so soon after the U.K. election, is something most new leaders could only dream of — but the summit is not part of a Starmer masterplan to ingratiate himself with Europe’s elite.It was his Tory predecessor Liz Truss who volunteered to host the meeting back in 2022. Rishi Sunak chose the date and venue — and then pushed the political ejector seat button by calling an election a few weeks before. For Starmer, now taking Sunak’s place as PM and keen to pull the U.K. closer to Europe after years of Brexit turmoil, the summit offers a chance for a relationship reset. “The EPC will fire the starting gun on this government’s new approach to Europe,” Starmer said Wednesday night. “We cannot let the challenges of the recent past define our relationships of the future.”For Starmer the summit has been described as “political speed-dating” — an opportunity to meet-and-greet dozens of European leaders in a single day. The EPC format, tighter in attendees than the U.N. general assembly but broader than EU council meetings, leaves “time and space for wheeling and dealing,” said one European diplomat, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the event. “These EPC meetings are always light on substance when it comes to the plenary agenda. Most leaders are happiest when there is plenty of time to have bilateral meetings with others.“It’s almost like a bazaar where they all come in with little to-do lists of issues they want to fix with one or more others.”The new U.K. prime minister has a long to-do list of his own: he wants progress on cross-Channel migration, revisions to Boris Johnson’s “botched” Brexit trade deal, and a broad new security pact with the EU covering everything from supply chains to intelligence-sharing. For Keir Starmer, now keen to pull the U.K. closer to Europe after years of Brexit turmoil, the summit offers a chance for a relationship reset. | Liam McBurney/Getty Imageswith EU colleagues and launch discussions with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz over a “deep” bilateral defense agreement. “These are meetings that would probably take months and months and months for us to fit in as a team, if we were not taking advantage of this summit for the purposes of those relations and the EPC,” Starmer told reporters on his trip to Washington. Tellingly, Starmer has prioritized talks this week with his two closest neighbors. He hosted Irish PM Simon Harris for dinner at his country residence, Chequers, on Wednesday night, and on Thursday evening will extend the same invitation to French President Emmanuel Macron, the driving force behind the EPC concept.“It will be an opportunity for the Labour prime minister to present his vision of a reset in the relationship between the U.K. and the EU,” an Elysée official said Tuesday.Asked what France wanted out of the Anglo-European reset, the French official quoted above replied: “Let's not reverse things — there's a new government in the U.K. and it's up to them to explain how they see their future relationship with the EU.” That echoed a European Commission spokesperson who said last week that it was “for the United Kingdom to say what it wants to make the relationship move forward.”“Europe is sick of talking about negotiations,” one U.K. Foreign Office official warned. “Member states will argue Britain is getting too much too fast. All the nations have demands but will feel the U.K. is getting preferential treatment for leaving .“If the government goes in talking a big game about opening new negotiations, it will end up embarrassed at the end. This needs to be a summit about shaking hands and being nice.”that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will not be attending the summit in person, and that other EU officials are privately complaining about having to travel to the U.K. at all. Discussions on mutual defense and security are expected to dominate Thursday’s proceedings. | Carl Court/Getty ImagesAllie Renison — a former British government adviser and now an associate director at SEC Newgate UK — said: “There is some surprise that Brussels seems to have put the ball in a new Labour government’s court to move things forward with the EU. “The EPC meeting is a perfect opportunity for the EU to demonstrate commitment to collaboration with rest of Europe on foreign and security policy, which frankly it needs to shore up its own position as a major player capable of tackling geopolitical challenges — not least on Ukraine, in light of recent events in the U.S.”AdvertisementDiscussions on mutual defense and security are expected to dominate Thursday’s proceedings, with a particular emphasis on the threat from Russia. “The summit is not about formal outcomes but about engaging on issues that are of concern to all those countries present, like Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, or energy security,” a third European diplomat told POLITICO. The French official quoted above said a U.K. proposal to crack down on Russian oil shipments would definitely be on the agenda.Russian disinformation efforts will also be discussed in a session on “defending democracy,” chaired by Macron. For his part Starmer is keen to push talks on migration, with illegal Channel crossings now hitting tens of thousands each year. “Dangerous small boat crossings are undermining our border security and putting lives at risk,” U.K. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said. “Criminal smuggling gangs are making millions out of small boat crossings ... We will work right across Europe to tackle this problem at source.”Advertisement Blenheim Palace is a baroque stately home in rural Oxfordshire, two hours’ drive from London. Limited accommodation nearby means most leaders are bringing only a small entourage. But the palace was chosen for its symbolism, not its practicality. U.K. diplomats seem obliged to mention at every opportunity that it was the family home of Winston Churchill, Britain’s wartime prime minister and a noted proponent of European cooperation.Built from 1705, it was named after the Battle of Blenheim, in which an English-led allied army roundly defeated a French and Bavarian force. The country house was intended as a reward for the Duke of Marlborough, the lauded commander who sent the French and Bavarians packing — and cemented Britain’s place as a first-rank power in Europe. It’s a history that may, at times, have suited the Conservatives’ approach to the continent. But if Starmer wants to reset the relationship, he will need a different tack. Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think tank, said Starmer must be “modest” and recognize that “Britain has a poor reputation” in Europe.“They know that you are not Boris Johnson,” he wrote, in an open letter to the new PM. “But you represent a country that, as far as they are concerned, behaved appallingly during the long years of the Brexit negotiations.” European diplomats tend to agree. “The best thing Starmer could do if his aim is to mend ties with the EU is exude trust, warmth and pragmatism,” a fourth told POLITICO. “The more he’s perceived as pushing a British agenda, the more the Brexit-PTSD of the past years will come rushing back.”
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