Keir Starmer’s chance to introduce himself to nearly 50 European leaders in the historic surroundings of Blenheim Palace this week very nearly did not happen, according to some diplomatic sources. Rishi Sunak, unlike Liz Truss, his predecessor as prime minister, who took Britain into the European Political Community (EPC), was not a great enthusiast for this still nascent addition to the crowded field of world summitry.
He did not share Truss’s enthusiasm for hosting such an event in election year and in late 2023 dispatched his foreign secretary, David Cameron, to Paris to see if the difficulties over a mutually convenient date may mean the event could be cancelled, or at least another host could be found. Emmanuel Macron, the French president who invented the concept of the forum after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, gave a clear indication of what might happen to Anglo-French relations if Sunak pulled out.