What the US-UK relationship would look like with Keir Starmer in power
It is unusual for Britain’s electoral cycle to coincide with that of the United States. The U.K. has not held a parliamentary election in an American presidential year since 1992, and the last time they came within weeks of each other was 1964. But it will likely happen again this year, with most expecting the British general election to be called for October or November, close to America’s fateful polling day Nov. 5.
Unless there is a seismic political upset, the Labour Party will win in Britain after 14 years in opposition, and Keir Starmer will become prime minister. What can America expect of him, and how would he react to a Democratic or a Republican triumph?
Starmer is a 61-year-old lawyer who looks younger and has only been a member of Parliament for nine years. From 2008 to 2013 he was chief public prosecutor for England and Wales, overseeing around 800,000 prosecutions every year. He describes himself as a “socialist,” though he qualifies that by talking about “practicality” and his chief motivation being to address “deep inequalities.” Even in Britain, unqualified use of the “s-word” is only for the reckless — and Starmer is anything but reckless.
Elected leader of the Labour Party in 2020 after it was subjected to a drubbing at the hands of Boris Johnson, Starmer has watched Joe Biden’s presidency with extraordinarily close care. The Economist........© The Hill
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