Can Keir cope with Kamala?

After a year of speculation about how Keir Starmer would work with Donald Trump, the situation stateside has changed dramatically. Gone is the flailing Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate; in his place is Kamala Harris, his resurgent vice president. She enters her party’s national convention as the bookmakers’ favourite to win the White House, with polls suggesting she has a slim lead over Trump. The change in momentum is privately welcomed by most Labour ministers, who would prefer working with a president who hails from their sister party across the pond. Both Starmer and Harris share a legal background and face shared challenges on crime, migration, and unorthodox opponents. Yet while a Democratic victory is the preferred choice of much of Whitehall, it may be hard for Starmer’s team to forge the kind of close bonds which other premiers and presidents have shared in the past.

The next three months will be a difficult balancing act for the British government.