It wasn’t quite le bromance of last week’s press conference with Emmanuel Macron. Then Keir Starmer and the French president had made no effort to conceal their affection for one another. A thousand ways to say je t’aime. They had even concluded their hour in front of the cameras with an awkward hug, unsure if a kiss on the cheek would be out of place. Exactly a week on, it was time for the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, to share a platform with the prime minister at the Airbus factory in Stevenage. This one ended with a formal handshake and little eye contact.
That wasn’t the only difference between the two pressers. The one with Macron had started an hour late, a sure sign that Starmer had been trying and failing to secure a better deal on the returns agreement with France. This one began as scheduled. Most of the details had been signed off days, if not weeks ago. The one-day visit of the German chancellor merely a matter of protocol. But it was, in its way, an equally significant occasion. The first friendship and bilateral cooperation treaty between the UK and Germany. A coming of age. A relationship of equals with no place for tabloid stereotypes.
