Birleşik Krallık Başbakanı İçin Dış Politika Zorlukları: Washington ve Avrupa ile İlişkiler

Any UK prime minister faces deep foreign policy challenges – whether Starmer, Burnham or another

Any UK prime minister faces deep foreign policy challenges – whether Starmer, Burnham or another Expert comment thilton.drupal 19 June 2026 Whoever is leading the country must deal with a fundamental shift in the UK’s most important relations – with the US and Europe – in an increasingly dangerous world. After securing a strong victory in the Makerfield by-election, Andy Burnham has returned as a Labour MP and looks set to mount a leadership challenge against UK prime minister Keir Starmer. While there is still a possibility Starmer holds on, it seems likely that the UK will have a new leader before long. Much of the debate around how Burnham, or other potential challengers, may differ from Starmer has focused on their approach to pressing domestic issues, especially the cost of living and growth, public services and immigration. Future relations with the EU have made the occasional appearance. These issues are crucial. But Starmer’s time as prime minister has been largely consumed by foreign affairs. Any potential new prime minister will face a relentless deluge of international issues and challenges. This is not just the result of unexpected overseas crises, although there have been many of those. It is tied to the fact that the UK’s most critical post-war relationships – with the US and Europe – are shifting. There are positive lessons to take from Starmer’s track record so far. But his government has struggled to address the deeper strategic questions – and find the resources – needed to tackle this fundamental shift and its impact on defence and security. A new prime minister would have the opportunity for a reset. This would need to address the US’s increasing reluctance to underwrite European security, the intensification of US-China rivalry, and the resulting increase in threats facing the UK. What Starmer has done well Starmer has been consistent and reliable when it comes to personal diplomacy. He has navigated a difficult relationship with President Donald Trump by correctly reading, and managing, the MAGA camp’s extreme sensitivity to apparent European condescension. He has refused to be publicly baited into conflict with the administration if it doesn’t serve the UK’s interests. There are positive lessons to take from Starmer’s track record so far. As pieces of diplomatic theatre, reciprocal US–UK state visits have been handled well. And Starmer has sought to learn from the past, carefully delimiting the UK’s role in the US–Iran war in recognition of the lessons of Iraq – and the subsequent Chilcot Inquiry – about not committing limited UK resources to US missions with no clear strategic end goal. Starmer has also been a credible European ally. He has continued the approach of previous UK governments in being a long-term and clear-eyed supporter of Ukraine. He has recognized that the UK’s security priority should be in Europe and coordinated with European counterparts effectively, signing a new security treaty with Germany and refreshing the existing one with France. A longer-term plan for European defence and security While Starmer’s personal diplomacy as a European ally has been a relative success, it is at threat of being undermined by the failure of his government to reckon with the costs of rising defence and security commitments. Defence spending challenges are by no means a new phenomenon, and are shared across Europe. Previous UK governments similarly said they would hit ambitious defence spending targets without explaining how. Part of the difficulty for Starmer’s government has been untangling a long history of British governments making too many commitments for UK defence without an honest assessment of the total costs. Related work John Healey’s resignation highlights profound strategic failure in the UK government’s approach to defence But the defence spending issue is about more than just litigating competing claims on the public purse – though this is challenging enough. With the US no longer such a reliable European security backstop – and Washington planning to withdraw some resources from Europe – the UK needs a longer-term defence and security relationship with European allies. The UK’s active and immediate response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 increased Britain’s credibility as a contributor to, and shaper of, the future of European security. The UK sent weaponry and helped train Ukrainian forces, in some cases before other partners, and played an important role in coordinating support. It worked closely with Nordic and Baltic countries, particularly via the Joint Expeditionary Force, to build an increasingly active European defence coalition. Post-Brexit, the UK has made it clear that it can play an important strategic and security role in Europe.