What would the UK’s foreign policy look like under Sir Keir Starmer? According to Professor Azeem Ibrahim, whose paper warning of the impact of Jeremy Corbyn’s foreign policy made front-page news in 2019, Starmer’s approach to foreign policy is “more assertive and more serious than that of any Labour leader since the general election of 2010 but still has serious gaps”.

Joining him to discuss ‘The Prospective Foreign Policy of Sir Keir Starmer’, a new paper published this week by the Henry Jackson Society, will be John Spellar MP, Joe Jervis, and Jessica Toale — three of the Labour Party’s most exciting foreign policy thinkers.

Together, they will analyse what a Starmer premiership is likely to mean for the UK’s role on the biggest and thorniest foreign policy dilemmas of our age, as well as indicate how far Labour has come in foreign policy terms since the Corbyn years and where it might still need to go.

Dr Azeem Ibrahim is the Director of Special Initiatives at the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy in Washington DC, Research Professor at the Strategic Studies Institute US Army War College and a columnist at Foreign Policy Magazine. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge after which he completed fellowships at the universities of Oxford, Harvard and Yale.

Dr Ibrahim is the author of two seminal books: “The Rohingyas: Inside Myanmar’s Hidden Genocide”, (Hurst 2016) and “Radical Origins: Why We Are Losing the War Against Islamic Extremism” (Pegasus 2017).

Joe Jervis is director of Renaissance, a voter engagement initiative whose first research project made recommendations for how the Labour Party can rebuild trust with voters who switched to the Conservatives in 2019. On foreign policy, Joe advised Stephen Kinnock MP in his role as Shadow Minister for Asia & Pacific from April 2020 to November 2021.

In 2018 Joe co-authored the book ‘Spirit of Britain, Purpose of Labour’ in partnership with Stephen and other influential Labour figures, aimed at influencing Labour policymakers. Before joining Stephen’s parliamentary team in 2018, Joe worked in the press and communications team for two start-up charities. Joe tweets at @joejervis89.

Jessica Toale is founder and co-chair of Labour Foreign Policy Group (LFPG) and a Labour Councillor for the West End Ward in the City of Westminster. She has a background in politics and international development with more than 10 years working with parliamentarians, NGOs, businesses and UN agencies on a range of complex policy issues including the UN sustainable development goals, early childhood development, international financial cooperation, women’s rights and conflict and governance. She is also a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London’s Forensics department working on  sexual exploitation in the aid industry.

Jessica holds a BA(Hons) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of York, a MSc in Urbanisation and Development from the London School of Economics and a Graduate Diploma in Law from the University of Law in London.

The Rt Hon John Spellar MP is the Labour Member of Parliament for Warley and currently serves as the Lead Opposition Member Defence Select Committee. John was first elected as a Councillor for Bromley in 1970 before successfully standing as an MP for Birmingham Northfield in 1982 but lost his seat in 1983. In 1992 he re-entered parliament representing Warley West and its successor constituency Warley. He had a long ministerial career in Tony Blair’s government serving as Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Minister for Transport and Minister for Northern Ireland. In addition, he was also Shadow Minister for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office under Ed Miliband and is a supporter of getting Government departments and bodies to buy British.

Outside of Parliament, John is vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel and is the Director of Labour First. He is a passionate defender of the British armed forces and regularly calls for increased spending for defence. He is also interested in the Energy, Motor, and Aviation Industry. Beyond politics his hobbies include gardening and reading.

***

SUMMARY

The Henry Jackson Society is delighted to present this event which sought to discuss the implications of Dr Ibrahims’s paper on the Keir Starmers potential foreign policy objectives. The speakers analysed what a Starmer government would likely entail for British handling of some of the most challenging foreign policy dilemmas of the age.

All the speakers agreed that Keir Starmer has the potential to develop a coherent and strong foreign policy, but more work needs to be done by the labour party to formalise a “Starmer Doctrine”. Dr Ibrahim believes that labour needs to take a more realistic approach to the UN and international law especially due to previous inconsistencies on foreign policy issues. Joe Jervis argued that Starmer has been more focused on rebuilding the labour party image and tackling domestic issues. He identified British reliance on China as an opportunity for Labour to outflank the Conservatives. Jessica Toale discussed her attempts to introduce progressive policies into Labour. She spoke about the competing viewpoint within the labour party and how British soft power can be rebuilt.

#HJSEvents