Is Keir Starmer really about to start renegotiating Brexit?

The Labour leader’s meeting with Macron was ‘constructive and positive’... and the talk is of the UK rejoining the EU (kind of). But does Sir Keir – or indeed you – really have the stomach for ‘outer tier’ Single Market 3.0, asks Tom Peck

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People who think they’re going to be the next prime minister have a tendency to do slightly mad things. Neil Kinnock helicoptered into a mass rally in Sheffield and shouted the words, “We’re all right!” over and over again, before losing the election eight days later. Jeremy Corbyn went to Glastonbury. Ed Miliband decided it was very important for him to seek the endorsement of Russell Brand, who both before and after had been issuing clear instructions not to bother voting at all.

But it is possible that Keir Starmer has outdone them all. For he really has gone to Paris to start renegotiating Brexit. It’s not to say it’s a bad idea. It doesn’t appear to have escaped the attention of quite a few of the people who voted to ”Get Brexit Done” four years ago, more out of desperation than actual hope, that Brexit has not been got done.

But that is not to say that those people are in any way clear of the denial phase of grief. There is a story around today that suggests that Macron is seeking to create an even more integrated central European Union for France, Germany and other so-inclined countries, with the possibility of an “outer tier” or “association membership” for the United Kingdom, which might involve commitments on trade or regulation... and as these words exit my fingers I really can feel my stomach hitting the floor.