“Nato hawk” Starmer signals return to Labour traditions with tough stance on Russia

By William Neale

The heightening tensions between Russia and Ukraine have seen high profile interventions from both the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary. The UK bolstered its military presence in the region deploying 350 Royal Marines to Poland earlier this week. Speaking today, the Prime Minister said that British troops were ready to stand “shoulder-to-shoulder” with their Polish counterparts, and called on the international community to “work together now to achieve de-escalation of the situation”. 

As Parliament goes into recess, it was not only the Government that was focusing on foreign policy. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer today sought to put water between the party under his leadership and the former Corbyn administration by communicating the party’s commitment to the UK’s membership of Nato as the tensions between Russia and Ukraine continue to escalate.  

Meeting today with Nato General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels, Starmer becomes the first Labour leader in over a decade to do so. In what Starmer hopes will be a decisive day in driving home the message that the party is under new management, his position stands in contrast to that of predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, a longstanding critic of the alliance.  

While Starmer and his team will be looking to put distance between this approach and that of the former Labour leader, the primary difference is in tone and messaging. While it is true that Corbyn remained a long-term critic of Nato, both election manifestos he oversaw maintained a commitment to membership of the alliance.  

In an exclusive interview with the Times, Starmer said “the message is that we are firm and united in our support for Nato, that we are reasserting Labour’s history and tradition. It’s part of our values, as relevant today as it’s ever been”. In making this intervention, Starmer seeks to invoke the Labour giants of the past – whether through Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin, and his role in taking Britain into Nato, or Attlee himself in developing the country’s first nuclear deterrent in the aftermath of the Second World War. Far from breaking with Labour’s traditions, Starmer’s intention is to signal a return to them.  

Away from the ongoing stories of parties at home, Starmer made it clear that it was “very difficult to find a dividing point” between Labour and the Government on the current situation, noting that only Russia would benefit from the division on the issue.  

While this proximity to the Government means that it is difficult for the Labour leader to carve out his own unique position, it nevertheless negates many of the longstanding criticisms made of his predecessor. After years of accusations that Labour has been soft on Russian aggression, Starmer’s team will be pleased by coverage such as today’s Times piece which labels him a “Nato hawk”. 

Despite this progress, Starmer’s team will be acutely aware that this is just the beginning, and more work needs to be done if it is to allay voters’ fears about the party’s foreign policy platform. IPSOS Mori polling still shows greater trust by the public in the Prime Minister to handle the crisis compared to Starmer, albeit marginally. Foreign policy will therefore continue to play a key role in supporting Labour’s message to the public that the party is ready to govern.