US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Britain next week to discuss plans regarding the Ukraine crisis and the situation in the Middle East. The State Department announced on Friday that Blinken would travel to London on Monday and Tuesday for the crucial meeting. This visit is significant because it comes after the Labour Party won the election in July, ending the Conservative rule in Britain after 14 years.
On his visit, Blinken will also hold strategic dialogues to underscore the unique partnership between the US and Britain. State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said Blinken would discuss the Middle East and Ukraine. He would also meet with Labour Party leader Keir Starmer to discuss Asia, the Middle East, and joint support for Ukraine. Starmer will head to Washington the following Friday, his second visit there since becoming elected.
Blinken and Starmer met in person for the first time on July 10, just days after Starmer took office. The meeting came after Starmer visited the White House, where he sat down with then-Vice President Joe Biden, who was in town for a NATO summit.
Historically, the US and Britain have been in tandem regarding international issues, and indeed, Biden’s Democrats have been more in tune with Labour than the Conservatives. Still, Starmer’s government has become increasingly critical of Israel, freezing some arms shipments to Israel, fearing suspected breaches of humanitarian law.
It had also reneged on its predecessor Conservative plans to veto an ICC arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The US, not a party to the ICC and opposed to the prosecution of Netanyahu, held its fire on the British arms decision as befitting respect for UK sovereign choices.
