Labour’s talking a good game at the UN General Assembly – but what does leadership mean?

Internationalism is now a defining feature – and promise – of Labour’s government. At the UN General Assembly yesterday, Keir Starmer delivered a clear and unambiguous message: Britain is ready to work as an equal partner with other countries to deal with global warming, war and the threat to the rule of international law. He was there to combat the “fatalism” he fears now grips the international community.

He offered a hopeful, but apologetic message. “I think the international system can be better. We need it to be better,” he said. “[We must move on] from the paternalism of the past towards [the] partnership for the future.” Britain’s paternalism, that is. You got the sense he was more comfortable giving a speech at the United Nations than at the Labour conference. This is a man steeped in international law. He still remembers reading the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a student at university. “It had a profound impact on me,” he told the sparse audience in the drab, space-ship-like General Assembly hall. Let us not forget that Starmer wrote an 883-page book on EU human rights law.

Internationalism is now a defining feature – and promise – of Labour’s government. At the UN General Assembly yesterday, Keir Starmer delivered a clear and unambiguous message: Britain is ready to work as an equal partner with other countries to deal with global warming, war and the threat to the rule of international law. He was there to combat the “fatalism” he fears now grips the international community.

He offered a hopeful, but apologetic message. “I think the international system can be better. We need it to be better,” he said. “[We must move on] from the paternalism of the past towards [the] partnership for the future.” Britain’s paternalism, that is. You got the sense he was more comfortable giving a speech at the United Nations than at the Labour conference. This is a man steeped in international law. He still remembers reading the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a student at university. “It had a profound impact on me,” he told the sparse audience in the drab, space-ship-like General Assembly hall. Let us not forget that Starmer wrote an 883-page book on EU human rights law.