It is a quirk of the British political system that the leader of the opposition goes from inhabiting cramped parliamentary offices to rubbing shoulders with leaders of the free world within such a short time. Sir Keir Starmer looked at ease at the Nato summit this week. But he faces a difficult new role as champion of a troubled global centre-left.
Political parties love a winner. And centre-left parties around the world are hungry to learn how Labour defeated the long-dominant Conservative party. Next week, the European contingent will gather at Blenheim Palace for the European Political Community meeting. Starmer would do well to use the time to learn from the problems besetting his global colleagues.
In many other countries, centre-left parties are incumbents facing difficult re-elections under pressure from a revived far right. Opposition is high: a majority of voters in every EU country except Poland, which changed government in 2023, think that their country is headed in the wrong direction, according to research by Datapraxis for the Progressive Governance summit in Berlin recently.
