The Today programme blotted its copybook this week by claiming that Blenheim Palace was the ancestral home of the Duke of Wellington, rather than the Duke of Marlborough. It would have been a bit of a faux pas to hold the EPC meeting at the home of the victor of Waterloo, although I am sure the French would have diplomatically pretended not to have noticed.
But that wasn’t necessary because everything about this conference was designed by the new Labour government to send absolutely the right signals. The signals that show it is nothing at all like the last Tory government.
The UK still does some things well and sending messages by symbolic actions is one of them.
Sir Keir Starmer had the original copy of the 1949 Treaty of London on prominent display at Blenheim. That is the treaty that establishED the European Court of Human Rights.
Subtle it was not; especially when Sir Keir announced that his government would “never leave the ECHR”. The display of the treaty was symbolic; the announcement was a hard, clear, emphatic change of direction and he announced it to an audience of like-minded, human right supporting, liberal, friendly nations.
The only European nations not invited to Blenheim were Russia and Belarus, the only European countries that are not members of the ECHR. Yet only three weeks ago the doomed Tory government was seriously and shamelessly floating that we would be better off in their club, rather than the ECHR members’ one.
It would feel like ancient history if it were not for the fact that many of the Tory candidates for leader are falling over themselves to persuade members that they really would leave the ECHR if ever re-elected.
But Sir Keir can safely let them stew in their own juice, instead he just got on with things. There were bilateral meetings, serious discussions about asylum seekers and immigration, more money to stop people even trying to leave for Europe and talks about processing applicants before they get to the UK. Rwanda is dead, realism is alive and kicking.
As the French president Emmanuel Macron arrived at the conference he announced, “I’m very happy and this is a great opportunity for a reset.” Those might be kind words from a polite guest but then Sir Keir had gone out of his way to make all the right noises too.
In his opening remarks he vowed to “reset the UK’s relationship with the European Union” and made clear he wanted to rediscover common interests and shared values which underpin the “essence of a European identity”.
Can you imagine Rishi Sunak ever daring to use such words, or re-affirming his country’s commitment to human rights and the ECHR? Can you imagine him holding serious reasonable discussions with fellow Europeans without having to sneer at them behind their backs to pander to his xenophobic backers?
After five failed Tory prime ministers, all forced to act like petulant children by their supporters, Blenheim has shown Europe and the world in just one day that the grown-ups are back in charge. How’s that for symbolism?
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