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Starmer's visit to China and the result being halving of tariffs- it comes 8 years after Theresa May's visit 2018.  Starmer is following his intution  to set an independent course for Brtian's foreign policy. It makes sense as the US is using common sense in coming back to basics, to getting its own hemisphere policies right. How could there be a situation like that in Venezuela and Mexico as with the drug cartels operating as states within states- what would Teddy Roosevelt say about this? So we now have the Monroe Doctrine, the return of the Panama Canal, the restructuring of the oil industry in Venezuela, and other action. This also means Canada and UK, India, European Union can pursue policies that are common sense. It means for Britain a new openness with China after 8 years inward looking with Austerity, Brexit and Covid. For a smaller economy it makes sense for Britain to have agreements on trade as it signed with India, and now with China. Carney, Starmer and soon Merz will have worked out relations with China on trade and exchanges. For Europe and the US over concentration of making goods in China can be corrected while still engaging with China. For the EU the visits Germany's Merz made to the kite festival an India and Leyen/Costa of the EU following up with trade agreements are all part of common sense to not just reduce over concentration in China, but also to build a new partnership with India to form a 2 billion people market. All of which happened suddenly as European nations realized how to work out new arrangements following the war with Russia over Ukraine and China's support for Russia, taking up the cues from DJT common sense action in its backyard. "I'm a pragmatist, a British pragmatist, applying common sense," the prime minister tells BBC on the plane and says he wants to "make Britain face outwards again."  ...

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Lucy Powell, deputy leader of Labour party, on Andy Burnham as the right choice for Denton seat in parliament, as the Greens would not have gone after that seat the way they did knowing Burnham was in it. Lucy Powell says of Andy Burham of the Greater Manchester region-  people “see in him someone who is on their side, someone who is delivering those Labour values and those Labour policies”. Starmer's error was to keep Burnham out, and he well realizes this.

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UK Labor party leader is ahead by 20 percentage points over the Conservatives and Rishi Sunak. He meets France's Macron to discuss future British relations with EU and France. He had a similar meeting with Mr. Scholz before the election in which Social Democrats and the Greens became the leading parties in the government.

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Riots in Belfast UK after migrant knife attack June 8 2026. Assailant was able to get asylum by flying from Sudan to Paris, Paris to Dublin and taking a bus to Belfast to seek asylum in the UK, says this report in the BBC. Starmer government in UK fails to stop asylum in the UK now that public opinion is clearly opposed to earlier lax immigration policies. Including asylum hotels that led to public disapproval and protests across small towns in the UK that had never experienced anything like this obvious intrusion into their lives and communities.

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US Defense Spending charts as percentage of GDP since 1929 startling fact seen in this chart of Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis- that in 2026 we are seeing 1929-1937 levels of military spending to GDP ratio of 2-3% just before it jumped to 45% in 1940 in World War II. It is a cautionary tale not to spend too little (2-4% is a danger point), as lack of military modernization means a lot more spending soon after, almost 10 times that- 10 times 4% or 40%. Message to the US is not what Starmer and company are saying in Europe- it is that don't invite the existential crisis of 1940 again for western (US, EU, Canada, UK) and eastern democracies (India, Japan, Indonesia, Australia) by ignoring costs of military modernization. And 2-4% of GDP for military spending is not going to do this.

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Keir Starmer of Labour says he stands behind every word in the ad that shows Tories including Sunak are weak in prosecuting crimes against woman and children. Labour says it will halve violence against women and girls. Starmer says- he will "make absolutely zero apologies for being blunt." That Labour will continue to use the Conservatives record on crime as legitimate criticism no matter how squeamish it made some people feel. "For the first time in my lifetime, everywhere you look from the economy to the NHS to the chaos on our streets- we have been set on a path of decline." Starmer said the last decade had seen the UK "become a country where thugs, gangs and monsters mock our justice system and make decent people's lives a misery." Starmer was head of public prosecution in Britain from 2008 to 2013. As early as 2002 he was Queen's Counsel. He was also a human rights adviser for Northern Ireland Policing Board and Association of Chief Police Officers. Starmer cites his work in improvements in Northern Ireland policing as one of the key factors in his decision to pursue a political career. The issue in the ad is a subject in which Starmer has much experience. ...

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What will the first days of Keir Starme be like after July 4, election day in Britain? On July 5 he will go to meet King Charles and address the British nation.  On July 5 and 6 he will appoint  top ranking ministers. On July 9  Tuesday he will go to the new parliament. This will be followed by meetings of NATO and in Europe. Rachel Reeves the first female chancellor, or minister of finance. 

Angela Raynor  as Deputy Prime Minister        David Lammy as Foreign Secretary.                   Wes Streeting  Health and Social Care.          Bridget Phillipson  Education

 

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Starmer of the UK's plan for Ukraine is clearly a stop gap plan in the chaotic manner in which DJT plan for disbanding NATO was conducted. This gives time for the Europeans to act. Meanwhile Leyen's EU -Leyen was Defense Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany- put out a $158 billion plan for funding defense. Merz of the CDU is clear how his coalition with SPD will act for independence from America on Europe's defense. Within weeks or months one can expect the Federal Republic take the lead for the defense of Europe, with the partnership of France, and the Nordic countries of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and the UK. As Merz said clearly- “My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA." European perceptions of recent happenings in the Ukraine war and the war's progression from the beginnings over three years will matter in 2025 as Europe, as Germany, France and Britain take on the role of bringing a fair peace to Europe that closes the war and does the reconstituting of defense architecture of Europe under new institutions that needed to be taken up in the 1990's after the fall of the Berlin Wall. ...

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NATO's ambivalence about the US posture on Iran is a problem for the US when it comes to shouldering the burden of reducing the risk of nuclear weapons in the world. There is July 2026 summit of NATO leaders and this remains a problem. Britain has been on again and off again in the war in Iran to keep the Straits of Hormuz open. No minesweepers from Britain, no use of British bases as prime minister Keir Starmer appeals to a skeptical British public and then a reversal to allow use of British bases as British bases are struck by Iran as far away as the Chagos islands.

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The national picture for Labor would include Scotland which is where Labor has roots. John Smith of Argyll and Butte in Scotland was elected Labor leader in 1992 and Leader of the Opposition in the British parliament. His untimely death in 1994 from an heart attack deprived Britain of a Labor prime minister from Scotland. Smith was able to get enthusiastic support of Scottish voters. It is this Smith period that Labor aspires to as it seeks to widen its lead of nine points over the Conservative party to be confident of getting an overall majority in parliament.

In 1997 a young Tony Blair of Labor who succeeded Smith won the general election. Blair setup the Scottish parliament not convened since 1707, starting a new chapter in Scottish history. In 2007 the Scottish National Party with Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon formed a new government which is losing the confidence of Scottish voters with the cost of living crisis.

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Pepsi lack of good judgement after it withdraws sponsorship only after the combination of Starmer, Davey and Farage denounce the Festival sponsorship. Farage says- "I would not buy a ticket." There is a tendency among some parts of business community that somehow social aspects are not its concern, while all the time living in the same communities and benefitting from our laws based on centuries of British tradition in the western hemisphere. Some may not even be aware of the extent of the debt of modern society and industry to these centuries of British tradition and law since Magna Carta in the 12th century (Runnymede 1215), as it has been obscured in today's schools, education and business obsessed with coding, marketing and finance.

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Popularity in both Houses of Parliament of UK for under 16 years ban on social media following Australian example. It now looks like the UK will follow Australia with the ban on social media for under 16 year olds and improve the quality and scale of education in the UK, mental health of children, and role of parents in education. For this to happen the people have had to rely not on politicians but on popular outcry and sentiment.

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Startling fact seen in this chart of Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis in the adjoining article next to this one- that in 2026 we are seeing 1929-1937 levels of military spending to GDP ratio of 2-3% just before it jumped to 45% in 1940. It is a cautionary tale not to spend too little (2-4% is a danger point) as lack of military modernization means a lot more spending soon after, almost 10 times that- 10 times 4% or 40% in World War II.  Message to the US is not what Starmer and company are saying in Europe- it is that don't invite the existential crisis of 1940 again for western (US, EU, Canada, UK) and eastern democracies (India, Japan, Indonesia, Australia) by not doing military modernization. And 2-4% of GDP for military spending is not going to be enough to do this.

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62% in You.Gov poll say they are dissatisfied on cost of living issues, a clear warning for Labour and Reeves plan to raise taxes to finance spending on benefits.