Our European neighbours recognise a mark when they see one

Eliot Wilson has a timely CAPX piece on Keir Starmer's attempts to slither into the EU on any terms the EU cares to offer - in this case via 'dynamic alignment'.


Labour’s EU sycophancy is a gift for Nigel Farage

• The Prime Minister's agreement with Brussels would give the EU the whip hand over a future government
• Keir Starmer's only negotiating tactic with the EU is to ask how high he should jump
• As Labour lock into complex talks with the EU over market access, Nigel Farage will be preparing attack lines

In his own undemonstrative and soporific way, Keir Starmer is just as obsessive about Europe as the most zealous Leave voter. So much of his conception of good governance has been shaped by the idea of being the opposite of the previous Conservative administration; accordingly, he regards a close and cordial relationship with EU member states and with the European Union collectively as a badge of success in foreign policy.

Our European neighbours, on the other hand, recognise a mark when they see one.


The whole piece is well worth reading as it contains two reminders. 

Firstly, politically Keir Starmer views the EU as an inherently superior non-national administration. In other words he views the UK as an inherently inferior national administration. 

Secondly it is a reminder of Starmer's abject political incompetence. He's not made for the Great Game and shouldn't be playing it, not against Nigel Farage on Farage's territory.


First and foremost, the EU wants to maximise its benefits from any agreement on dynamic alignment. Starmer seems to think that our European neighbours are clamouring for a deal with the UK, but it is his Government which by some margin needs this more urgently. The Commission may, therefore, be indifferent to the weapon it proposed to hand to Reform UK.

Farage must regard the coming months with relish. The Government and the European Union will be locked in complex negotiations over trade, regulation and market access – and already they have ensured that the narrative will all be about him.