Naked in the Conference Chamber
It is an immutable law of politics; you know you're on your way out when people start saying nice things about you. Keir Starmer's appearance at the NATO Summit 7-8th July in Ankara was marked only by the silence of any significant comments about the UK by Donald Trump. He reserved his ire for the Spanish. Everybody was too polite to tell Keir Starmer that he was naked. Aneurin Bevan made a memorable speech to the Labour Party conference in 1957 opposing a motion to back unilateral nuclear disarmament. He warned that by removing what leverage the UK government had in the international arena, it would be like sending the Foreign Secretary 'naked into the conference chamber'.
Monday, 27 July 2026 16:10
