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SIR Keir Starmer has put himself in Winston Churchill’s shoes, saying he does not have to choose between the US and Europe.
The Prime Minister insists he will not be taking sides as he seeks to put Britain on the “front foot” on the world stage.
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He used a major foreign policy speech last night to channel both Churchill and ex-Labour PM Clement Attlee in being a bridge between the two.
The PM said: “So I want to be clear at the outset, against the backdrop of these dangerous times, the idea we must choose between our allies, that somehow we’re with either America or Europe, is plain wrong. I reject it utterly.
“Attlee did not choose between allies. Churchill did not. The national interest demands we work with both.”
The PM also used the speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet in central London to cement the UK’s relationship with the US ahead of Donald Trump entering the White House next month.
There are fears the President-elect could spark a trade war by imposing tariffs on British goods, having imposed a 25 per cent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico.
But Sir Keir said: “Our relationship with the US has been the cornerstone of our security and prosperity for over a century.
“We will never turn away from that. We call it the special relationship for a reason.”
The PM, who met with Mr Trump in New York in September, added: “This is not about sentimentality. It is about hard-headed realism.
“Time and again the best hope for the world, and the surest way to serve our mutual national interest, has come from our two nations working together.”
The PM also talked up the UK’s “relations with China” — despite Mr Trump threatening to impose 60 per cent tariffs on goods from China.
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