‘Associate membership’ of the EU? It could be the deal we’ve always wanted

Keir Starmer has a great chance of tilting the Brexit debate decisively in his favour, writes John Rentoul. But he needs to be mindful of Labour Leavers...

The Labour leader on his pre-general-election charm offensive in Paris (Getty)

The Franco-German plan for a “four-tier Europe” could have been a disaster for Keir Starmer as he turned up at the Elysee Palace for one of his most important meetings as prime-minister-in-waiting.

It risked confirming the claim by Brexiteers that the Labour leader is in cahoots with EU leaders to find a backdoor way for Britain to rejoin. Instead of accusing Starmer of wanting to reverse Brexit, they can now say that the question is how much of Brexit he wants to reverse.

But that question has lost a lot of its sting, now that British public opinion has shifted. Starmer has obviously decided that Brexit is seen as such a disaster, he has the space to take some risks by promising to work more closely with the EU. Given that the best that many Brexiteers can say about leaving the EU is that Boris Johnson handled it badly, Starmer thinks he has some scope to argue that he would make a better job of it.