What will Starmer’s fellow world leaders make of him at the Nato summit?

In Westminster, Sir Keir Starmer is still in the honeymoon period as Prime Minister. In Washington, where Starmer heads for the start of the Nato summit today, the welcome is likely to be somewhat less warm.

The new British team, made up of Starmer, foreign secretary David Lammy, defence secretary John Healey, and Nick Thomas-Symonds, now Cabinet Office minister in charge of ‘European relations’, will be greeted with courtesy and encouragement. But the red carpet won’t be rolled out: Nato leaders liked, rather than loathed, Rishi Sunak’s government. They felt him to be a man with whom they can do business. They will be eager to know if the same can be said for Starmer, a man who deliberately made his election strategy vague and anodyne. It’s true that the PM’s endlessly stated seriousness of purpose will be welcomed, but Nato leaders will want to know in real terms how British foreign and defence policy will change.