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Emboldened Starmer makes new 'best friend' in Norway
The Independent
|May 11, 2025
David Maddox travels to Oslo to meet a PM cutting a more assured figure after recent trade 'wins' in India and the US
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Keir Starmer was on a secret mission when he flew off to Norway for the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) meeting with heads of government of European Nato allies.
Yes, he was there to press the case for the "coalition of the willing" to protect Ukraine in a post-peace settlement reality before heading to Kyiv. But he had other important business linked to his government's economic growth and defence cooperation agendas - selling frigates.
The Norwegian government is about to make a decision on buying new frigates for their navy, but who to buy from? The choice (as often seems to be the case) is Britain or France. It certainly helped that when Sir Keir had his bilateral meeting about a Norwegian ship with Norway's PM, Jonas Gahr Støre warmly described him as "our best friend".
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