A former President of France issued a begging order to Keir Starmer last night, asking him to come back and lead Europe following Donald Trump’s victory.
The astonishing request came as part of a new push by Europe to encourage Britain to reverse Brexit and return to Brussels’ orbit.
Speaking in London last night, Francois Hollande, who served as the French President from 2012 to 2017, said the UK and EU need to “respond to Trump’s offensive and to find solutions for the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East”.
He added: “Keir Starmer needs to position himself as a European leader, while not being in the European Union. This is what he must sell to the British public.
“Starmer is in a favourable position, one in which he needs to capitalise on the benefits, not only for the United Kingdom but also to the benefit of Europe.”
The former socialist leader who quickly became unpopular during his term of office before being turfed out said he backed Keir Starmer’s ongoing reset with the European Union.
The former premier encouraged the PM to “demonstrate to Europeans that he is a partner again”.
Mr Hallande’s intervention comes amid widespread calls by Remainers to make Britain “Trump-proof” by creating closer ties with the EU.
Last week LibDem leader Sir Ed Davey said that Keir Starmer should push for an immediate European conference on how the bloc can fill the gap in defence assistance if the US pulls financial support, or weakens its commitment to NATO.
He also said the UK must fix the “broken trading relationship left in tatters by the Conservatives”, including acquiescing to Brussels’ demand for a youth mobility scheme.
He added: “We don’t want a trade war. We need to try and argue him out of that idea, argue against tariffs, and we need to try to persuade him to stand by Ukraine with us.
“But, but we also need to make our country Trump-proof. We can’t just do whatever he says.”
However Brexiteers say Donald Trump’s win provides Britain with a unique opportunity to capitalise on our new freedoms and strike a major trade deal while Europe is clobbered with tariffs.
Former UKIP MP Douglas Carswell told the Express this week that Britain is uniquely-placed to reap rewards from Mr Trump’s second term.
He explained: “There’s clearly a choice that people who make statecraft in Britain, need to make. You’ve got the United States taking off technologically and demographically and economically.
“Its population is growing. It is literally planning on sending rockets to Mars and it is on the cusp of an AI revolution.”
“On the other side of the Atlantic, you’ve got the European bloc, which is sclerotic and in decline. You can’t even manage an email list in Europe without running the risk of being sued under GDPR regulations, which shockingly, Britain still remains positive.
“The European Union is likely to be going to waging a regulatory war against Musk, against Microsoft, against all the American big tech companies.”
