Inside Keir Starmer’s G20 Rio journey as WW3 nuclear disaster unfolds

Keir Starmer has copped a fair bit of flak in recent weeks over the time he’s spent overseas.

But given the events of the past few days it’s hard to argue that international events don’t need his attention. The PM was thrust into the middle of a global crisis within hours of taking off for the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Sunday.

While the PM, key aides and the press pack were in the air, news broke that Joe Biden had authorised Ukraine to fire US-made long-range missiles into Russian territory. As developments go this was massive – and unexpected.

Vladimir Putin had long made clear that the use of Western warheads on his turf wouldn’t be taken lightly. The PM and his advisors were locked in talks at the front of the plane as reporters desperately tried to find out on what was going on, and how it affected to UK.

The escalation would dominate the summit, which saw the heads of the world’s largest economies converge on the stunning Brazilian coast. It also meant Mr Starmer and his team spent the next two days batting away questions over whether he would follow the US lead.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had long been pleading to use UK-manufactured Storm Shadow missiles – which have a range of nearly 200 miles – in Russian territory. The question on everyone’s lips was whether the request had been granted.

And the PM and his top aides were determined not to answer – although the language he used gave travelling hacks some very strong clues. On Tuesday, after nearly 48 hours of being asked about Storm Shadow, Mr Starmer told a press conference that we “need to ensure that Ukraine has what is needed for as long as it’s needed to win this war against Putin”. Whether this included missiles went unsaid, but the implication was clear – the UK wasn’t about to back down.

But he swerved a question about whether Brits should prepare for the possibility of nuclear war, instead hitting out at the Kremlin’s “irresponsible rhetoric” and calling on Putin to withdraw. The PM knows better than anyone what is at stake – Russian state media reported earlier that day that Putin had loosened its rules around deploying nuclear weapons. This followed a vow to retaliate if Western-supplied missiles were launched into Russia.

In the 48 hours in Brazil, I and the travelling political correspondents attended excruciating briefings trying to find out if the green light had been given. But Mr Starmer and his advisors remained steadfast – if we say we’ve agreed, the thinking went, Putin will be able to prepare.

It wasn’t until we were on the plane back to the UK, following a stop in Cape Verde, that the answer we all expected finally came. Ukraine had, it emerged, used Storm Shadow missiles for the first time hours earlier.

How Russia responds remains to be seen, but it shows the weight of responsibility the Prime Minister is currently carrying. These are troubled times on the world stage, and the outward-looking Government has a lot to wrestle with.

Putin himself wasn’t at the summit. The Russian President knows that if he were to show his face he could be arrested, after a warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court. Instead the warmonger sent Sergey Lavrov, his regime’s Foreign Minister.

Mr Starmer described the despot as “the author of his own exile” as he called on him to admit defeat. The crisis is in sharp focus given the confusion over Donald Trump’s impending return to the White House. There has been firm indication that support for Ukraine could be scaled back or cut off altogether. And Trump himself has claimed he can set up a deal within 24 hours that would end the war.

This has raised fears that concessions could be made to Putin – something Mr Zelensky says would be “suicide” for Europe. Mr Starmer didn’t speak to Lavrov during the course of the summit, he was keen to point out. Nor did he have any plans to have any phone conversations with Putin in the near future.

The crisis is a stark reminder why cementing Britain’s role in the dangerous new world is so crucial. Mr Starmer and his team told journalists at every opportunity that they were there to champion the Ukrainian cause.

Forging global alliances couldn’t be more important following Trump’s election. With the returning President notoriously blowing hot and cold over global trade, alliances such as NATO and climate change, world leaders are within their rights to feel nervous.

The thin-skinned Republican would doubtless have been unimpressed that Mr Starmer took the opportunity to hold a historic meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. It is the first face-to-face meeting between heads of state since 2018, and more have been pencilled in. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to travel to Beijing next year, and Labour is keen to reset the relationship with the superpower.

No10 aides insist the PM was firm with Xi on human rights, but the sentencing of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong less than 24 hours later shows he could be an uncomfortable ally. But challenging times make strange bedfellows, with Mr Starmer pressing the need to be “pragmatic” in relations with China.

There was also some welcome movement on climate change at the summit. There is a strong sense of pessimism about Trump’s return – he’s indicated he’ll pull out of the landmark Paris Agreement in January.

And Trump loyalist Javier Milei, the flamboyant President of Argentina, is standing alongside him on that front. Mr Milei, who was at the G20, was a disruptive influence on environmental issues. But the UK delegation was keen to be on the right side of the argument, with Mr Starmer launching a new Global Clean Power Alliance aimed at speeding up the green energy transition.

Brazil, Australia, Barbados, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, Morocco, Norway, Tanzania and the African Union are the first to sign up. It’s hard to argue that pressing such issues on the world stage aren’t crucial.

During the summit the Government also announced it is set to restart talks with India over a trade deal, which collapsed under the Tories. Doing the hard yards will hopefully pay off in the long run, as such agreements will be crucial for jobs and growth in post-Brexit Britain.

And there were plenty of meetings with fellow leaders – notably Australia, Japan, Italy, Colombia and Brazil – as well as the chance to do some wheeling and dealing on the fringes. This would doubtless have included talks with Mr Biden, with Ukraine likely to have been central.

And in time-honoured fashion there was time at the end for a quick trip to a football stadium.

Having spent a fair bit of time trailing the PM during the election campaign, I’ve seen the PM make plenty such visits. But with respect to sides like Hitchin Town and Bristol Rovers, visiting the historic Estadio Presidente Manoel Schwartz, former home of Brazilian club Fluminense, was a special experience.

It is the site of the first Brazilian national team game – against British club Exeter, no less. And over the years it’s seen some heady moments for this football-loving nation.

The PM took some time to meet young players and find out about Terra FC – a local project designed to get football fans involved in the battle with climate change. And he jokingly urged the promising youngsters to push for a move to Arsenal, the club he’s followed since he was a boy.

It was a welcome chance for him to look relaxed in what was undoubtedly a depressing and high-pressure few days. No10 is painfully aware that it needs to show the benefits of all the time Mr Starmer is spending abroad. But with the world in such a dangerous and uncertain position, to suggest he shouldn’t be doing so feels incredibly naive.