Starmer is right to embrace our European future

The prime minister is to be congratulated on his clear-sighted speech to the Munich Security Conference. In unscripted remarks referring to questions about his leadership at home, he claimed that he had “ended the week much stronger than I started it”. If that is true, let us hope that he has the strength to deliver the closer cooperation with our European neighbours of which he spoke so eloquently.

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The speech struck the right balance between resisting the bullying bluster of Donald Trump and acknowledging that Europe needs to do more to secure its own defence. Sir Keir Starmer reminded his audience that Nato members had defended each other’s sovereignty on the issue of Greenland. He reminded President Trump, again, that Nato members had come to the aid of the United States in Afghanistan - “at terrible cost to many in my country”.

But he also spoke of the need for “greater European autonomy”, while saying that it “does not herald US withdrawal, but answers the call for more burden-sharing in full, and remakes the ties that have served us so well”.