Simon Harris and Keir Starmer were dining on roast cod at the Chequers country estate on Wednesday evening when the British prime minister told the Taoiseach of his love for Donegal. He spent part of his honeymoon there in 2007 and says that he “fell in love with the place”.
It was already well-known around the table, but Starmer also mentioned that for years he had played football wearing a Donegal GAA top – not the county jersey, but a navy Donegal training top he bought during that visit. The Irish delegation knew what was coming next, even if Starmer didn’t.
There was a bag on the floor beside the Taoiseach’s leg. Inside was a new Donegal GAA jersey, a gift for Starmer that Harris produced just as soon as his host finished his story.
The prime minister was “genuinely gobsmacked”, according to those present.
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As political tales go, it was as twee as any whitewashed cottage with a thatched roof that you might expect to find overlooking a beach in Starmer’s beloved Donegal.
Yet this moment of soft diplomacy – warm and funny – also epitomised the significant and genuine effort both sides are pumping into a much-vaunted “reset” of Anglo-Irish relations after years of grimace-inducing strain under their predecessors.
Here was a British prime minister and a Taoiseach sipping Guinness together in the evening sun in the back garden of the manor house that has been the country retreat of every UK leader for more than 100 years. The stout-soaked symbolism, while predictable, was nevertheless powerful in its demonstration that, for the Republic and Britain, a new era of good relations has arrived.
Such a scene of bonhomie would have been unimaginable under the previous clutch of Conservative leaders such as Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson and Theresa May. It isn’t quite a bromance between Harris and Starmer – for a start, the Taoiseach (37) is 24 years younger than the prime minister. But there is something bubbling between them personally and both understand its political significance and, crucially, its utility.
The in-the-zone demeanour of officials on both sides showed they had grasped the importance of the Chequers meeting, which was choreographed down to the minute. Harris must have understood it too as he waited down the road in the Russell Arms country pub for the nod to make his entrance.
Minutes later, the two leaders were sitting on chairs in the Hawtrey room in Chequers speaking with gravity about how they were guarantors of the Belfast Agreement. It must have been music to the ears of Harris, who has longed to hear a UK prime minister speak this way.
After dinner, the Taoiseach emerged a happy man to greet the Irish journalists waiting outside. A few of the most senior members of the Irish delegation were positively glowing over how it had gone down – completely different from the meetings held with the British in recent years.
Harris may be loquacious, but he is not a sloppy speaker. When he says something and then repeats it, you can be sure he wanted a particular message to go out. On three occasions he referred to the strained relations with Tories of the recent past, contrasting it with the positive vibe with Starmer.
On expressions of commitment to the Belfast Agreement, Harris said it was “so refreshing to hear a British prime minister now using that language” – a not-so-subtle rebuke of Starmer’s predecessors.
He then suggested he and the prime minister understood that there were structures already in place under the Common Travel Area to deal with abuses, such as large numbers of refugees drifting over the Northern Ireland Border.
“When I made that point in the past, it was contested,” he said in another mild rebuke of Tory leaders, notably Sunak as the only other UK prime minister with whom he dealt.
Before he left for the evening, Harris returned again to the theme of the structures under the Common Travel Area for dealing with problems. The Tories had told him these did not exist, but they were clearly there. “In my view that should never have been deviated from in the past,” he said.
Harris and Starmer now plan to hold annual formal bilateral summits under their leadership, which would produce detailed work programmes for their ministers to implement. They have also pledged to work together on a host of issues such as migration, Northern Ireland and how Britain might have a closer relationship with the European Union.
“I can’t overstate the significance of this evening’s meeting,” said the Taoiseach.
Starmer accepted an invitation from Harris to visit Dublin on September 7th, only this time the prime minister probably won’t want to wear his Donegal jersey. It is the night of an Ireland v England Nations League game at the Aviva Stadium. It appears likely they will attend the match together. Old enemies on the pitch and new friends in the stands?
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