Last night Mark Carney, the formconer governor of the Bank of England, was elected leader of the Liberal party in Canada, which means he will become prime minister. Canadian election results don’t often take centre stage in UK politics, but Carney was elected promising fierce opposition to President Trump’s talk of annexing Canada and in London Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, is urging Starmer to fly to Ottawa this week “to stand in solidarity with the country’s new prime minister in response to Trump’s threats against Canada”.
In a statement Davey said:
It’s vital for both British and Canadian security that we stand strong together. With global instability rising, it’s never been more important to show a united front with our Commonwealth friends – and to stand together against Trump senselessly turning the screws on his allies, whether that’s Canada, the UK or Europe.
Responding to the trade war along the North American border, our prime minister must stand in solidarity against Trump’s bullying and visit Ottawa in a joint show of strength. Starmer must be clear that Trump’s threats against Commonwealth nations’ sovereignty are unacceptable.
The Guardian continues:
Davey won’t be expecting Starmer to take his advice. But he has touched a nerve. Starmer angered Canadians during his press conference with Trump in the White House last month by refusing to answer a question about Trump’s stance on Canada, claiming the journalist who asked about it was “trying to find “a divide between us that does not exist”.
And, with King Charles attending a Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey this afternoon, there will be close interest in whether he says anything that might be seen as a comment about Trump’s plan to seize the country where he is head of state.
Lord Bonkers tells me that when Queen Victoria was once urged to visit Canada, she replied: "We are not a moose."
As Canada has an election coming up — one that the Liberals are still on course to lose, though the tightening of the polls recently makes it less of a sure thing that it was — Starmer supporting Mark Carney would be a rather unwise attempt to poke his nose into the politics of a foreign country — something that Starmer has up to now been too smart to get caught doing.
ReplyDeleteGiven that the election (assuming one is held) won’t be called until after Carney has been sworn in (which will take at least a few days), it wouldn’t be inappropriate for Starmer to schedule a visit soon and it would send an important signal of solidarity with the Canadians who are facing a serious threat from the US government.
Delete