Starmer’s new battle of Blenheim: bringing Britain back into Europe
The Battle of Blenheim by Joshua Ross Jnr. (active 1710–1715) - Government Art Collection, with Keir Starmer
Sir Keir Starmer owes Liz Truss a second favour. The first, of course, was her paving the way for his landslide victory by demonstrating what Brexiteer ideologues could do to the economy.
The second is the biggest gathering of European leaders seen on English soil since before the isolationist referendum vote eight years ago.
Last week the new Labour Prime Minister was starring in Washington at a Nato summit, which gave him a chance to parley with President Biden. He was also admired as the only European leader to preside over a stable government for the next five years. Starmer has shown how a sensible party of the Left can again win power without being hostage to flaky coalition partners.
This week he hosts 47 heads of state and government at Blenheim Palace for a meeting of the European Political Community. They will discuss how all of Europe, not just the EU, should respond to global challenges from the Kremlin and Beijing — as well as the now probable Trump presidency.
The European Political Community (EPC) was set up by the French President, Emmanuel Macron, in 2022. It includes all the countries such as Turkey, North Macedonia, Albania, Armenia, Kosovo or Serbia that he and other EU leaders have kept eternally in a waiting room for full EU membership.
Twenty years ago Tony Blair, then perhaps the most influential EU leader, helped open the doors to Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia and other ex-communist states. Even some deeply corrupt countries with dodgy politics, such as Bulgaria or Romania, were allowed to join Europe.
As a result the new EU member states have seen the biggest ever advances in their economies and living standards, as well as (often grudgingly) accepting EU laws —the rule of law, democratic protections, rights for women and gays and much more besides — that were previously unknown in their history.
The mass Westward Ho! emigration of their citizens brought its own problems. It helped spur the rise of a European populist nationalist right headed by women like Marine Le Pen and Giorgia Meloni which has weakened 20th century political parties.
In 2017, President Macron, newly arrived in the Elysée, promised West Balkan countries they would soon enter the EU — although this was not in his gift. They are still waiting. As compensation he got Brussels to set up the European Political Community (EPC) in 2022, which any democratic nation nominally in wider Europe could join.
It was assumed that the then British Prime Minister, Liz Truss, would maintain Boris Johnson’s hardline Brexit position of full rupture with anything European. Notoriously Ms Truss had replied to the question: “President Macron: Friend or Foe?” with the snide reply: “It’s too early to say.” This was received with contempt at the Elysée.
But as PM, she did agree that Britain should join Macron’s EPC and even offered to host its 2024 meeting. This gathering has now been taken over by Starmer.
The EPC does not take EU type decisions. It does not set rules or deal with trade or the movement of people. It is a classic giant supra-national talking shop. But Jaw-Jaw is better than the alternative and Britain can once again this week be a European player, albeit only briefly.
Since Labour’s giant win, the anti-EU defensive tone Labour shadow ministers were forced to adopt after Labour lost so many seats in 2019 as Boris Johnson pledged “to get Brexit done” now seems dated. According to some economists the Tory hard Brexit has cost Britain 5 per cent of its GDP. It has also made life more difficult for every big firm, university, small business, young artist, City consultant. And it has done big damage to the UK’s global reputation.
More than 100 Labour MPs are grouped in the Labour Movement for Europe, the biggest pressure group on the Government benches. Every opinion poll shows that a clear majority considers Brexit to have been a massive national mistake.
That does not automatically mean a new referendum simply to reverse the 2016 plebiscite. But it does mean the new Government has to put on its thinking cap to see how the continuing damage of Brexit can be slowed and where possible reversed.
Blenheim Palace was given to the Duke of Marlborough early in the 18th century to commemorate his most famous victory, at a time when Great Britain was becoming more and more involved in continental affairs in order to safeguard British security and promote British prosperity. Britain hosting the EPC there is a symbolic restart of Britain again accepting that it is a European power. Like it or not, the UK’s economy, politics and civil society are inseparable from Europe.
Denis MacShane is the former Minister for Europe. His latest book is “Labour Takes Power. The Denis MacShane Diaries 1997-2001” (Biteback)
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