As the armoured-plated cars crunched to a stop in the gravel, Keir Starmer, our newly elected Prime Minister, stepped into the July sunshine. One by one, he greeted the arriving leaders of 45 European nations, members of the European Political Community (EPC), who had come to the baroque splendour of Blenheim Palace to confer.
Before taking office, senior Labour people used to declare that “since Brexit”, Britain had become a “laughing stock” or “largely irrelevant” around the world. That was never so, but Britain’s continental neighbours were worried. Did leaving the European Union mean permanent political chaos? Did it mean isolation? Although intended to reassure, “Global Britain” was interpreted as grandiose imperialist nostalgia.
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