Long live the Entente Cordiale: The King and Keir Starmer are right when it comes to the EU

Editorial: Politically, it is the Labour Party that is catching the current mood of the nation – a Tory Brexit is no longer the vote winner it once was

It is the King and Sir Keir who sound as if they are on the right side of history (Laurent Blevennec/Presidence de la Republique)

The visit of the King and Queen to Paris serves as a timely reminder to those on both sides of La Manche of the closeness of the ties that bind British and French destinies together. At a time when Brexit is yet again a very live political controversy, some sense of perspective is always welcome – and, managing to stay above politics, the King is especially well placed to do just that.

Whatever path the future relations between the UK, France and the EU take, they must remain friendly and cooperative – because Europe will remain the UK’s largest trading partner and its most immediate strategic interest. Intriguingly, the King went so far as to recall to his audience in the French Assembly (and the wider world) a particular moment in our history. Just before the fall of France in 1940, Winston Churchill proposed an “indissoluble political union” which would have “allowed our two peoples to continue the fight for justice and freedom as a single country”.

France is the UK’s longest-standing major ally, a fellow nuclear power, and we sit together on the permanent council of the United Nations. The shared interest in resisting Russian aggression in Ukraine, highlighted by the King, is only the most urgent of the security issues facing European allies. Much the same may be said of the transcendent challenges the climate crisis presents to us – something the King needed no ministerial advice to mention.