UK's Starmer aims to overhaul EU relations as Trump specter looms

• The U.K.'s new Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer is seeking to reset fractured relations with Europe on Thursday as he hosts more than 45 heads of state from across the continent.
• Starmer will tell the European Political Summit that the region must work together to present a united front on security and defense.
• It comes as the specter of a possible second presidency from Republican nominee Donald Trump looms heavy over Europe after an assassination attempt over the weekend buoyed support for the former president.

OXFORD, England — The U.K.'s new Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer is seeking to reset fractured relations with Europe on Thursday as he hosts more than 45 heads of state from across the continent at Winston Churchill's birthplace.

Starmer will tell the European Political Summit that the challenges facing Europe cannot be confronted alone, and that the region must work together to present a united front on security and defense.

"We cannot let the challenges of the recent past define our relationships of the future," Starmer said in a Wednesday statement from Downing Street.

"That is why European security will be at the forefront of this government's foreign and defence priorities, and why I am focused on seizing this moment to renew our relationship with Europe," he said.

Starmer will tell attendees in opening remarks at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England that his new U.K. government will take a "more active and greater convening role" on the global stage.

It comes as the specter of a second presidency from Republican candidate Donald Trump looms heavy over Europe after an assassination attempt over the weekend buoyed support for the former president.

Both Trump and his newly announced running mate JD