Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s resignation, Colombia’s presidential election, and Chinese restrictions on U.S. firms.
The End for Starmer
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation as the leader of the Labour Party on Monday, a move that will eventually result in his replacement as the country’s leader.
Starmer’s much-anticipated resignation comes after weeks of internal Labour revolt following a paltry showing in local elections in May. “The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election,” Starmer said in his resignation speech. “I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept that answer with good grace.”
Starmer’s two-year rule was marked by “[t]imidity, U-turns, countless relaunches that went nowhere, the communication skills of a funeral director, and endless unnecessary mistakes,” John Kampfner wrote in Foreign Policy. Among these gaffes was Starmer’s decision to appoint Peter Mandelson—who had close ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein—as Britain’s ambassador to the United States in 2024.
Starmer’s hand was finally forced this week with the victory of popular Labour politician and former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham in a parliamentary special election. Burnham’s new MP status would have enabled him to formally challenge the prime minister’s leadership, but Starmer’s resignation renders such a confrontation unnecessary.
Burnham has confirmed that he will put himself forward to become Labour’s next leader, and he seems to have the necessary support among the party’s legislators. (Wes Streeting, considered another serious contender, has fallen in line behind Burnham.) The party will formally begin the election process on July 9.
But can Burnham revive the moribund Labour Party? “He’s not the messiah,” one Conservative Party lawmaker cried out as Burnham completed his parliamentary swearing-in. If elected to lead, he will inherit a rebellious Labour Party that is trailing behind Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party in the polls.
And, as fate would have it, Tuesday marks the 10-year anniversary of the Brexit referendum, which data suggests has slowed Britain’s economic growth. No post-Brexit prime minister has served for much longer than three years. As Marie Le Conte wrote in FP: “Britain is currently quite broken.”
The challenge for Britain’s seventh prime minister in 10 years will be to establish a clear vision for the future of the country. “Whoever eventually takes over will need to show far more imagination and courage than Starmer has,” Kampfner wrote.
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The World This Week
Tuesday, June 23: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio begins a three-day trip to the Middle East, with stops in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Bahrain.
A new round of U.S.-brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon starts.
Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar hosts the leaders of the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia for a summit of the Visegrad Group in Budapest and Godollo, Hungary.
The U.K. cabinet meets following Starmer’s resignation announcement.
Wednesday, June 24: U.S. President Donald Trump hosts talks with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the White House.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hosts talks with leaders from Poland, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy in Berlin.
Thursday, June 25: Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman visits China.
Poland hosts the annual Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk.
What We’re Following
“Major progress.” The first round of talks between the United States and Iran in Switzerland has produced a “roadmap” to a final deal within 60 days, according to a joint statement released by mediators Qatar and Pakistan. The negotiations focused on implementing the memorandum of understanding that the United States and Iran signed last week, which extended the April cease-fire and established a framework for continued talks on Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions relief, and regional de-escalation.
Addressing the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon was at the top of the agenda. Israel killed 47 people in airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Friday, and Hezbollah killed four Israeli soldiers. In response, Iran said it was reinstating its blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, while Trump threatened on Sunday to resume strikes against Iran.
By Monday, however, tensions appeared to have eased. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that “major progress” toward ending the fighting had been achieved, and the United States and Iran agreed to create a “deconfliction cell” to help enforce the cease-fire.
Also on Monday, the U.S. Treasury Department lifted some sanctions on Iranian oil as well as petrochemical and petroleum products, issuing a 60-day license authorizing production, delivery, and sale. Additionally, Iranian officials said progress had been made on a program to release some of Iran’s billions of dollars in frozen assets—although how Iran uses those assets could be a sticking point in future negotiations.
A Bukele for Bogotá? Abelardo de la Espriella, a right-wing criminal defense lawyer and political newcomer, appeared to clinch Colombia’s presidential runoff election by a razor-thin margin on Sunday. With 99.99 percent of ballots counted in the preliminary tally, he secured 49.66 percent of the more than 26 million ballots cast, beating out the left-wing Sen. Iván Cepeda by a little more than 250,000 votes. Although outgoing President Gustavo Petro, who backed Cepeda, cast doubt on the election results and alleged Israeli interference, no evidence has yet substantiated those claims.
With an endorsement from Trump, de la Espriella cast himself as a tough-on-crime candidate in the mold of Nayib Bukele, the hard-right president of El Salvador. On the campaign trail, de la Espriella wore bulletproof vests and gave speeches from a bulletproof box. Christina Noriega reported for Foreign Policy that he promised to build 10 megaprisons financed and operated by private companies, end peace talks with armed groups, and kill or capture 10 criminal leaders in his first 90 days in office.
Security was top of mind for voters. Last year, Colombia suffered 14,780 homicides, the highest total since 2020. It is facing a humanitarian crisis as armed groups expand across the country. But a Bukele-style security agenda may not deliver the same successful, if highly controversial, results as it did in El Salvador, where the murder rate has fallen dramatically. Colombia’s territory is about 54 times larger, and its security forces are already stretched thin against nearly 30,000 armed fighters. “What lies ahead for Colombia may not be the orderly crackdown de la Espriella promises,” Noriega wrote.
U.S.-China commerce conflict. China on Monday imposed export restrictions on several U.S. firms that it accused of having links to the U.S. military, including drone-makers and rare-earth mining companies, to “safeguard national security and interests,” the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.
Ten companies, including Aveox, Ball Aerospace & Technologies, Jaia Robotics, and Oshkosh Defense, now face restrictions on buying Chinese-made products with potential military applications. Also on the list are the United States’ two largest rare-earth miners, USA Rare Earth and MP Materials—the latter of which is partially owned by the U.S. Defense Department and operates the only major rare-earths mine in the United States. The restrictions apply to purchases made both directly from Chinese suppliers and from organizations and individuals around the world.
The move is a tit-for-tat response to the Pentagon’s recently updated blacklist of firms with alleged links to the Chinese military, including e-commerce giant Alibaba, tech company Baidu, and electric carmaker BYD.
Also on Monday, the Chinese Finance Ministry blocked 46 U.S. companies, including Lockheed Martin and Boeing, from government procurement supply chains. The measure is largely symbolic, as the U.S. firms have a minimal presence in China.
Odds and Ends
Cape Verde’s World Cup fairy tale continued on Sunday as the Blue Sharks fought to a 2-2 draw against football powerhouse Uruguay. The tiny West African island nation, with a population a little more than 500,000, entered its first-ever World Cup as one of the clearest underdogs. But it held its own against Spain—one of the tournament favorites—in a goalless draw on June 16, with a standout performance by 40-year-old goalkeeper Josimar José Évora Dias, known as Vozinha. The Blue Sharks will see if their World Cup dream will continue with a game against Saudi Arabia on June 26.
