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Sir Keir Starmer will mark Armistice Day at a ceremony in Paris on Monday, in what signifies a major step in his plans to build bridges with one of the EU’s strongest powers ahead of a Brexit reset.
The prime minister has been personally invited by Emmanuel Macron, with the two leaders expected to discuss Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East amid other foreign policy issues.
During the morning, Sir Keir will host veterans, defence charities and British military personnel at the ambassador’s residence, and is also expected to meet the new French prime minister Michel Barnier.
The meetings come less than a week after it was confirmed that Donald Trump will be returning to the White House in January having been re-elected US president.
There are concerns over what a second Trump term could mean for US support for Kyiv and NATO.
The defence secretary John Healey insisted he expected the US to stand by Ukraine for “as long as it takes to prevail over (Vladimir) Putin’s invasion”, and the world will have to “wait and see” what he proposes after assuming power.
Starmer expected to travel from Paris to Azerbaijan for Cop29 talks
The latest UN climate talks kick off this week against a backdrop of devastating weather extremes, record heat and Donald Trump’s re-election as US President.
World leaders including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer are heading to the opening summit of Cop29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, where they face pressure over delivering finance for poor countries to cope with climate change, and increasing their ambitions on emissions cuts.
The meeting is being held in the wake of the latest deadly weather events including floods in Valencia and Hurricane Helene in the US, which scientific analyses show were made more likely and intense by rising temperatures.
This year is on course to break temperature records once again and, as countries prepare to submit new plans for climate action by early next year, the UN has warned that existing policies are falling so far short the world is on track for a “catastrophic” 3.1C of warming.
Countries will also be grappling with Mr Trump’s return to the White House, in what analysts say is a trend of climate scepticism in elections this year.
Trump’s tariff plan ‘doomsday scenario’ for UK economy, senior Labour figure warns
Experts have warned of a looming trade war after Mr Trump himself said: “Tariff is my favourite word”.
Read the full article from Kate Devlin here:
Kemi Badenoch arrives at Post Office inquiry
Kemi Badenoch, the new leader of the Conservatives and the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, have both arrived to give evidence to the Post Office inquiry.
She will answer questions later this afternnon having held the business portfolio in the last government.
UK expects US to continue backing Ukraine and Nato alliance
Donald Trump has insisted he would find a solution to end the war in Ukraine “within a day” without explaining how he would do so, which some have interpreted to mean a peace on terms favourable to Moscow.
Facing broadcasters on Monday morning, defence secretary John Healey said he expected the new administration to continue backing Ukraine until it secures a victory over Russia.
“As far as President Trump goes, he recognises that countries get security through strength, just as alliances like Nato do, and I expect the US to remain alongside allies like the UK, standing with Ukraine for as long as it takes to prevail over Putin’s invasion,” he told Sky News.
He dismissed suggestions that a withdrawal of US commitments to Nato, which Mr Trump has previously alluded to, would leave the UK weakened.
“I don’t expect the US to turn away from Nato. They recognise the importance of the alliance. They recognise the importance of avoiding further conflict in Europe,” Mr Healey said.
Starmer and Macron lay wreath at Winston Churchill statue
As part of the commemorations of Armistice Day in Paris, Sir Keir Starmer and the French President Emmanuel Macron have laid a wreath at the Winston Churchill statue in Paris.
The two also travelled in an open roof car to review troops around the Arc de Triomphe.
In pictures: Macron and Starmer observe minute’s silence for Armistice Day
Why party-loving Karen Pierce is key to reviving Starmer’s relationship with Trump
The morning after Donald Trump’s election, Britain’s top diplomat to the United States posted a photograph of herself wearing a wide-brimmed hat and orange dress, standing next to Trump in the Oval Office — presumably taken during his first administration. “We look forward to deepening our already profound and successful partnership as we deal with the challenges of the 21st century,” she wrote.
Dame Karen Pierce knows diplomacy. So well, in fact, that if the rumours turn out to be true, despite her four-year term ending, Sir Keir Starmer will reappoint her as the UK’s ambassador to the US – a move that will acknowledge just how adept the 65-year-old has proven in the delicate task of handling Trump.
It’s a role that it’s fair to say she’s probably more than happy remaining in, too. In April, she told a party in the gardens of the British embassy at 3100 Massachusetts Avenue that she would have “to be dragged out of here by my fingernails” – despite the fact that David Miliband, Baroness Amos and Lord Mandelson were all tipped for her job. But Pierce has something they don’t: Trump experience.
Read our full analysis from Alex Hannaford here:
Why we won’t get better trade deals out of Trump or the EU
This week Rachel Reeves will use her Mansion House speech in the City of London to “promote free and open trade between nations”. The word is that the chancellor is “expected to be clear that she will take the fight to Washington in defence of free trade”.
With Donald Trump having just seen one female progressive politician off so recently, Reeves is displaying considerable pluck in squaring up to the nascent Maga administration.
Perhaps, some such as Kemi Badenoch argue, Reeves should instead take the opportunity to seize the most valuable of Brexit opportunities, and press president-elect Trump for the free trade deal with the United States we’ve been yearning for ever since that fateful referendum eight and a half years ago.
Read the full article from Sean O’Grady here:
Starmer and Macron hold minute of silence
Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have greeted members of the defence community and military officials in Paris, as they observed a minute’s silence.
The event marks the 106th anniversary of Armistice Day, which brought the First World War to an end.
Trump to target EU over UK in trade war as he wants to see ‘successful Brexit’
A possible trade war with the US will not be as bad as feared, a former political appointee in the last Trump administration has said – claiming the president-elect will target the European Union more significantly than Britain as he wants to see a “successful Brexit”.
Peggy Grande, who was a political appointee for Donald Trump, told The Independent he is likely to give a “preferential trade deal to the UK” and she thinks tariffs will “more greatly affect the EU than the UK”.
It comes amid fears of a global trade war, after the Republican politician pledged to impose levies of 10 per cent on all goods imports from US trading partners, and up to 60 per cent and 100 per cent for China and Mexico.
Read the full article here:
Source: independent.co.uk
