Starmer’s foreign policy doctrine revealed

It is sometimes claimed that Mark Darcy in the Bridget Jones’ Diary series is based on Keir Starmer. One is an upright, priggish human rights lawyer: the other is a character played by Colin Firth. The book and then the film were set in the 1990s, when ‘Cool Britannia’ was at its peak and New Labour orthodoxies the fashion of the day. So is it too portentous an omen to note that in the latest instalment of the film – released next month – Mark Darcy’s character is sadly no longer with us?

After all, Tories jibe, Sir Keir’s onetime uber-trendy views on rights look increasingly out-of-date in a world of Trump, Xi and great power politics. In office, Starmer himself seems to have few qualms in sending a succession of ministers out to Beijing. Yet Mr S can reveal that the Labour leader’s views were not always so cynical. For in 1998, the future Prime Minister co-authored a pamphlet for Amnesty International which contains some striking views on British foreign policy.