Keir Starmer will vow to ‘recommit’ Britain to internationalism at UN meeting

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Sir Keir Starmer will pledge to “recommit” Britain to internationalism and the rule of law when he attends the UN general assembly on Wednesday, as his aides push for meetings with Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

The UK prime minister will use remarks at the annual high-level gathering in New York to frame Britain as a “reliable and trusted” global player under his leadership, after he arrives in the US for the third time in as many months.

He will also join calls for an end to the “devastating” conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan when he attends the UN Security Council.

Last autumn, Starmer’s Conservative predecessor Rishi Sunak became the first British prime minister in a decade to skip the annual UN general assembly meeting.

Sunak also signalled his willingness to quit or derogate from the European Convention on Human Rights if it interfered with his Rwanda immigration policy, under which people identified as illegal migrants would be relocated to the African country.

UK government officials are attempting to line up meetings for Starmer with both the presidential candidates vying to succeed US President Joe Biden.

Downing Street officials stressed the talks, which would probably take place on Thursday if they happen, depended on whether they could align diaries with Harris and Trump.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has travelled to the US this week to address the UN and press Biden for security guarantees before he leaves office, has also said he will meet Harris and potentially Trump while on the ground.

Starmer’s 48-hour trip to the US comes after he attended a Nato summit in Washington in July and returned for bilateral talks about Ukraine and the Middle East with Biden at the White House earlier this month.

Discussions about whether the US would approve Ukraine deploying western-supplied long-range missiles in Russia dominated Starmer’s last visit and are set to arise again. On Sunday, Biden told reporters he was yet to make a decision on allowing such usage.

Since taking office Starmer has launched a foreign policy reset on Europe, climate change and the “global south”.

At the UN he will vow to “return the UK to responsible global leadership” as he argues Britain’s reputation on the world stage is linked to its political stability and security at home.

It is part of his drive to distinguish his administration from successive Tory governments that were characterised by turmoil.

Starmer will say: “This is the moment to reassert fundamental principles and our willingness to defend them. To recommit to the UN, to internationalism, to the rule of law.”

He will argue on Wednesday that stepping up the UK’s international engagement is “undeniably in our self-interest” because it is key to solving global challenges that impact Britons domestically.

“War, poverty and climate change all rebound on us at home. They make us less secure, they harm our economy, and they create migration flows on an unprecedented scale,” he will tell fellow world leaders.

Starmer used his keynote speech at Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool on Tuesday to call for “restraint and de-escalation” at the border between Lebanon and Israel, as he urged all parties in the Middle East “to pull back from the brink”.

While he reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, he was interrupted by heckles from a pro-Palestinian protester. The incident came after chancellor Rachel Reeves was disturbed by an activist a day earlier, highlighting how Middle East policy remains a flashpoint among Labour members.