A UK-India trade deal is needed now more than ever

Within a year of being elected leader of the Conservative party, David Cameron made clear the importance with which he viewed Anglo-Indian relations: “I attach the highest priority to Britain’s relationship with India. For too long, the politics of this country has been obsessed with Europe and America.” That he meant business was underscored by the 2010 Tory general election manifesto which promised a “new special relationship with India”.

The British head of state Queen Elizabeth ratified an “enhanced partnership” with India in her speech at the opening of parliament. Cameron, now prime minister, rushed to Delhi, where India endorsed the idea, but did not really execute it. The emergence of the British Gujaratis’ favourite Narendra Modi to power in 2014 revived hopes in Whitehall, but he, too, disappointed.

Then, not entirely unexpectedly, Boris Johnson received a phone call from Modi wherein, according to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, they “agreed that there was tremendous potential for enhancing collaboration”.