British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer touched upon a range of topics, including defence and regional security, during his congratulatory phone call with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump after a “historic” election victory.

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During the call on Wednesday (November 6) evening, both leaders agreed to work towards strengthening the “incredibly strong” U.S.-U.K. special relationship and committed to ensure the bilateral ties continue to thrive.

“The Prime Minister offered his hearty congratulations and said he looked forward to working closely with President-elect Trump across all areas of the special relationship. From defence and security to growth and prosperity, the relationship between the U.K. and U.S. was incredibly strong and would continue to thrive for many years to come, the leaders agreed,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.

Mr. Starmer is said to have also reflected on the situation in the Middle East and “underscored the importance of regional stability”. They went on to discuss their recent meeting at Trump Tower when Starmer was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

“The leaders fondly recalled their meeting in September, and President-elect Trump’s close connections and affinity to the United Kingdom and looked forward to working with one another,” Downing Street added.

The phone call came after a heated first exchange between Mr. Starmer and the newly elected U.K. Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch in the House of Commons.

The Conservative Party chief challenged the Labour leader over his party volunteers having flown in to support the campaign of Trump’s Democrat rival Kamala Harris.

“I am very sure that President Trump will soon be calling to thank him for sending all of those north London Labour activists to campaign for his Opponent,” Ms. Badenoch taunted.

“It is absolutely crucial that we have a strong relationship – that strong, special relationship, forged in difficult circumstances — between the U.S. and the U.K.. We will continue to work, as we have done in our four months in government, on issues of security, our economy and global conflict,” Mr. Starmer responded.

Earlier, Mr. Starmer had been forced to stress that any party activists in the U.S. during the election campaign were there as volunteers on their own time.

Ms. Badenoch also raised the risk of increased tariffs on U.K. exports by the new Trump administration, which would threaten the country’s manufacturing sector and urged him to revive UK-US free trade agreement (FTA) talks, which the previous Biden regime had cancelled.

Meanwhile, Mr. Starmer is in Budapest on Thursday for a summit hosted by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban where Trump’s victory and its implications on Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) are expected to dominate the agenda.

The European Political Community (EPC), which holds these summits every six months, was set up in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict as a chance for the European Union (EU) to meet wider partners including non-members such as the UK and Turkiye to discuss key security challenges affecting Europe.

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, alongside Investment Minister Poppy Gustafsson. File
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer marks 100 days in office Saturday (October 12, 2024) with little cause for celebration.

Mr. Starmer’s center-left Labour Party was elected by a landslide on July 4, sweeping back to power after 14 years. But after weeks of stories about feuding, freebies and fiscal gloom, polls suggest Mr. Starmer’s personal approval rating has plummeted, and Labour is only slightly more popular than a Conservative Party that was rejected by voters after years of infighting and scandal.

“You couldn’t really have imagined a worse start,” said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. ”First impressions count, and it’s going to be difficult to turn those around.” Mr. Starmer won the election on promises to banish years of turmoil and scandal under Conservative governments, get Britain’s sluggish economy growing and restore frayed public services such as the state-funded National Health Service.

His government argues it has made a strong start: It has ended long-running strikes by doctors and railway workers, set up a publicly owned green energy firm, scrapped the Conservatives’ contentious plan to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda and introduced bills to strengthen rights for workers and renters.

Mr. Starmer has traveled to Washington, the United Nations and European capitals as he seeks to show that “ Britain is back ” after years of inward-looking wrangling over Brexit. But the United Kingdom, like its allies, has struggled to have much impact on spiraling conflicts in the Middle East and the grinding war in Ukraine.

The new government also has faced crises at home, including days of far-right fueled anti-immigrant violence that erupted in towns and cities across England and Northern Ireland in the summer. Mr. Starmer condemned the rioters as “mindless thugs” and vowed to jail those responsible. So far, more than 800 people have appeared in court and almost 400 have gone to prison.

Mr. Starmer’s most intractable problem is Britain’s sluggish economy, hobbled by rising public debt and low growth of just 0.2% in August, according to official figures.

Mr. Starmer has warned that things will be “tough in the short term” before they get better. He says public spending will be constrained by a 22-billion-pound ($29 billion) “black hole” in the public finances left by the Conservatives.

One of the government’s first acts was to strip millions of retirees of a payment intended to help heat their homes in winter. It was intended to signal determination to take tough economic decisions, but it spawned a sharp backlash from Labour members and sections of the public.

It also sat awkwardly with news that Mr. Starmer had accepted thousands of pounds’ worth of clothes and designer eyeglasses from a wealthy Labour donor. Mr. Starmer insisted the gifts were within the rules, but after days of negative headlines agreed to pay back 6,000 pounds’ (almost $8,000) worth of gifts and hospitality, including tickets to see Taylor Swift.

Government officials and advisers have traded blame for the faltering start, with the focus on Downing Street Chief of Staff Sue Gray, and her reported tensions with Labour campaign strategist Morgan McSweeney.

Amid intense media scrutiny — which produced the revelation that Gray earned more than the prime minister — she resigned, saying stories about her “risked becoming a distraction.” McSweeney is replacing her as Mr. Starmer’s Chief of Staff.

Anand Menon, director of the political think tank U.K. in a Changing Europe, wrote on its website that the government made “avoidable mistakes” that allowed a “perception of incompetence and dysfunction” to take hold.

The government’s focus is now on Oct. 30, when Treasury chief Rachel Reeves will set out her first budget. She has ruled out increasing income tax, sales tax or corporation tax, but also says there will be no “return to austerity” — a hard circle to square. She is thought to be considering hiking levies on wealth such as capital gains or inheritance tax.

The government is hoping it can take painful decisions early and then turn things around by showing a growing economy and improving living standards. And it has time — there does not have to be another election until 2029.

Mr. Starmer will be working from 10 Downing St. on his 100th day in office, and aides insist he is not musing on whether his first weeks have been a success.

“It’s for the public to judge that,” spokesperson Camilla Marshall said. “The government is focused on delivery.” Bale said the government can rebuild trust with voters, if it shows “not only that it’s had a pretty dire inheritance, but that it has a plan to improve the country.” “What’s been lacking in some ways is the vision thing,” he said. “I don’t think people have that much of a sense of what Keir Starmer or indeed Labour is about. And that’s something they need to put right very quickly.”