British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech, following his first cabinet meeting as Prime Minister, in London, Britain, on July 6, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Britain’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer spent his first few hours in office holding phone calls with U.K. allies and partners including a call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday morning. On Friday, Mr Starmer spoke with U.S. President Joe Biden, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenksyy , the leaders of Japan, Australia and other countries. The new Prime Minister presided over his first cabinet meeting on Saturday morning, after having promised to begin work immediately.

“Discussing the Free Trade Agreement, the Prime Minister said he stood ready to conclude a deal that worked for both sides,” Downing Street said about the call between Mr Modi and Mr Starmer on Saturday. A trade deal was the floor, not ceiling, of the bilateral relationship, Foreign Secretary David Lammy had said a during a June 25 speech on UK-India relations. The two countries have concluded 14 rounds of talks since 2022.

The U.K. readout of Saturday’s phone call described the India-UK relationship as “strong and respectful”. The Labour Party has been seeking to “reset” its relationship with Indian origin Britons, and specifically, the Modi government, walking back a resolution, passed during the 2019 Labour conference, criticizing the government’s abrogation of Article 370 (special status for Jammu & Kashmir). There is some data from recent U.K. elections (pre 2024) to suggest that Indian-origin Britons were drifting to the Conservative party, a move led by Hindu and Christians, rather than Muslims and Sikhs. Mr Starmer and his colleagues have been trying to win Indian-origin Britons back as part of larger changes in Labour and a distancing from former leader Jeremy Corbyn’s policies.

“Appreciating the positive contributions of the Indian community in the social, economic and political development of the UK, the two sides agreed to continue to promote closed people to people ties,” New Delhi’s readout of the phone call said, adding that Mr Modi invited Mr Starmer to visit India soon.

On Saturday’s call, Mr Modi and Mr Starmer also spoke about deepening cooperation in defence and security, critical and emerging technologies and climate change, Downing Street said. The External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Mr Lammy also spoke on the phone on Saturday to reaffirm ties between the two countries.

Speaking with the U.S. President, Mr Starmer reaffirmed the “special relationship” between their two countries and, according to Downing Street, they discussed “their aligned ambitions for greater economic growth”. Mr Starmer reiterated his commitment to working with the U.S. on a broad range of issues, including the Australia U.K U.S. (AUKUS) security partnership and “ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific”, as per Downing Street. The Rishi Sunak Conservative government had announced that the U.K.’s Carrier Strike Group would visit the Indian Ocean in 2025 and do joint training exercising with Indian forces. This decision will be taken forward by the new Labour government, Mr Lammy had indicated during his June speech on U.K.-India relations.

Mr Starmer and Mr Biden also reiterated their support for Ukraine and their commitment to the Good Friday Agreement (the 1998 Northern Ireland peace settlement). Mr Starmer re-affirmed his support for this agreement with the Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris. The U.K. Ireland relationship had been tested under the Conservative governments of Rishi Sunak and his predecessors over Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading relationship with the U.K. and, more recently, the movement of undocumented migrant from the U.K. to Ireland.

Speaking with Mr Zelenskyy, Mr Starmer said that the “change of government in the U.K. would make no difference to the U.K.’s support for Ukraine”, according to Downing Street.

Mr Starmer and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida “underscored that the security of the Euro-Atlantic region and Indo-Pacific was indivisible” on their call.

The new Prime Minister is expected to meet a number of these leaders face-to-face at the NATO Summit in Washington DC next week. Following this, he will meet his European counterparts at the European Political Community Summit , scheduled for July 18, in Blenheim, England. He has promised a closer relationship with the European Union (EU), especially on the trade and security front, while ruling out a return to the EU Single Market or the free movement of people across borders. Mr Starmer will also need to work with EU partners if he is to deliver on his plan to reduce illegal migration into the U.K.

Speaking at a press conference after his first Cabinet meeting, Mr Starmer confirmed that the previous government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda had been terminated and that he was not prepared to continue with “gimmicks”. With regard to the National Health Service, Britain’s universal healthcare system, Mr Starmer echoed the new Health Secretary’s position that the NHS was “broken”. Talks with junior doctors , who have been striking for greater pay, would begin next week as per the government.

The U.K.’s prison system was also broken, Mr Starmer said. Among the experts he has appointed to his cabinet is businessman James Timpson, who has a background in prisoner rehabilitation, as prisons minister. Mr Starmer is due to visit Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and parts of England starting on Sunday before traveling to Washington DC on Tuesday.

The new Prime Minister said there would be more announcements in the coming days, suggesting things could take time.

“It is not an overnight exercise changing the country, “ Mr Starmer said.