James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

What was striking about Sir Keir Starmer’s press conference
in Germany was his attempt to link his foreign policy with his domestic policy.

He said: “Growth is the number one priority for my government… and building
relations with our partners here in Germany and across Europe is vital to
achieving it.”

He spoke of a “shared determination to harness the power of
government for the service of working people, and that’s what we are doing
today: a new UK Germany treaty, a once-in-a-generation chance to deliver for
working people in Britain and in Germany”.

He claimed deeper links in science,
technology, development, business and culture would help “boost trading
relations” and forge more chances “to create jobs here and in the UK”.

Successive UK governments have tried to tie what they do abroad with their
strategies at home but most fail.

This is the most explicit attempt I have
heard from a prime minister for some time to claim his diplomacy is designed to
help “working people” in the UK.

The problem is that it is not yet clear how
much improved bilateral relations with European nations can boost the UK
economy when post-Brexit rules determine how and what we trade with the EU as a
whole.

Opinion polls also suggest voters can be reluctant to see a link between
governments’ domestic and global policies, treating the two as largely
distinct, despite the longstanding impact of global wars, migration and climate
change on life at home.