Starmer Struggles to Find Voice for UK in More Hostile World
- UK prime minister gives no clear answer on Ukraine missile use
- G-20 meeting with China’s Xi Jinping also triggers criticism
Keir Starmer used his biggest international summit since becoming prime minister to say Britain was back and “looking outward to the world again.” Asserting a global role for his government proved more difficult.
Starmer’s 48-hour swing through the Group of 20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro highlighted the challenges facing British foreign policy in the wake of Donald Trump’s US election victory. On one hand, he cast the UK as a staunch defender of the liberal world order it helped build. On the other, he passed up a chance to condemn the sentencing of democracy advocates in the former British colony of Hong Kong hours after his own meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.