Sir Keir Starmer came to the G20 summit of world leaders in Rio de Janeiro focusing on investment, growth and security.
On the first two, he will have been satisfied with progress. The third, less so…
Starmer had bilaterals with the leaders of India, Brazil and China. There was talk of deeper cooperation with India and the restart of talks about a trade deal with Delhi.
There was tentative chatter with China about defrosting that relationship which was plunged into a deep freeze by the end of 14 years of Conservative rule.
Keir Starmer fielded questions about the farmer’s strike back home
PA
And with Brazil, Starmer told us that there would be greater work between the two countries on co-operation starting with listing sovereign Brazilian bonds on the London Stock Market.
Yet on security, Starmer cannot be satisfied with how the summit played out.
He repeatedly said that the UK was “doubling down” on its support for Ukraine.
Yet the G20’s final agreed communique was less than fulsome in its support for Ukraine against Russia. No wonder No10 found it disappointing.
It might be 26 degrees in the shade here in Rio but the chill of Westminster and the farmers’ protest was never far away.
The PM tried to show that he “gets” farmers’ fury over the likely inheritance tax bills unveiled in the Budget by telling me that he grew up a country boy.
“My first job was on a farm, I grew up in the countryside, all of my entire family live in the countryside, we are a rural family. I am the only one who lives in a city,” he said.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro
PA
But despite this he ‘doubled down’ again, making clear that he had no intention of lifting the threshold at which farmers pay inheritance tax.
It’s a 5,500-mile journey back to London, lots of time for Starmer to think about the anger of farmers over their rising tax bills and the prospect of some family operations being broken up to pay tax bills.
The G20 might be in the past, but the anger of these farmers remains firmly in the present.
