Pictures of Sir Keir Starmer were festooned throughout the city of Mumbai this week as Indian PM Narendra Modi gave his British counterpart a welcome he will never forget. About 5,700 posters were printed, and dancers performed along the route from the airport to celebrate the UK Prime Minister’s arrival.
Nothing like this happens when Sir Keir turns up in Liverpool for the Labour conference. Last week’s gathering of the Labour faithful was marred by rampant speculation that Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham would make a bid for the top job. Dire poll ratings against Reform UK and a stagnant economy have made the PM look vulnerable in Britain – but in Mumbai, he was greeted as a colossus on the global stage. It must do wonders for your self-esteem.
The visit was a chance for the Labour leader to rebuild relations with Britain’s business community. Scores of executives crammed into the same charter flight as the PM. This kindles a Team GB-style atmosphere.
Sir Keir will hope their joint adventure calms anger about the shock rise in employers’ National Insurance contributions and Angela Rayner’s workers’ rights revolution.
Participants in the trade mission applauded him in the grandeur of the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, and this brief visit to the emerging superpower has sparkled with rare outbreaks of fun for the Labour leader. This ardent football fan got to hang out with Michael Owen, and he will hope that Britain’s innovators deliver on the potential of the trade deal and get the economy growing.
But it will be back to reality with a bump when Sir Keir returns to Downing Street. For all the business leaders’ enthusiasm for the trade deal, the big worry in British commerce is that Rachel Reeves will hammer them with higher taxes – again – in next month’s autumn Budget.
When he looks past Christmas, he sees the May elections, where Nigel Farage hopes to humiliate Labour and deny the party its top place in Wales for the first time in more than a century.
India has provided a rollicking and sunny escape from domestic realities, but when Sir Keir pulls back the curtains, he will look out at a stormy political landscape – and winter is coming.
