Sir Keir Starmer attended his first Nato summit in Washington, DC four days after becoming Prime Minister in July 2024. Now, almost exactly two years later, he will join alliance leaders in Ankara with probably less than a fortnight until he leaves Downing Street.
There is a certain piquancy, either sad or laced with schadenfreude, according to your point of view, in Starmer’s premiership being bookended by major defence summits. He has spent a great deal of time and effort on foreign affairs and security, including a heavy burden of international travel, and Ankara will be his 47th and final overseas visit in 24 months. (For the statistics-hungry among you, Starmer has been to 33 different countries and one British Overseas Territory, the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in Cyprus.)
It is bittersweet or mischievously entertaining because the Prime Minister has come to think of himself as major figure in foreign affairs, overshadowing his two undistinguished foreign secretaries, David Lammy and Yvette Cooper, and waiting five months into his time in office to appoint a National Security Adviser, the continuity Blairite, Jonathan Powell. It has even been suggested that Starmer is interested in becoming Secretary General of Nato.
