Macron to host Keir Starmer as Élysée breaks protocol

Sir Keir Starmer is to meet President Macron in Paris next week in an unusual diplomatic move by the Élysée to build relations with Labour before the next election.

Macron told Rishi Sunak at the G20 summit in Delhi that he had decided to invite Starmer and an aide to Paris because it was “logical for the president to meet the different players of European countries”.

The meeting, which will take place on Tuesday shortly before the King travels to France for a state visit, is a break from protocol. Macron normally only meets opposition leaders from his own European “political family”.

President Macron is expected to ask Starmer about Labour’s approach to relations with the European Union

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