In normal times, five election-winning, center-left political leaders from around the world, gathered in an imposing marbled hall in London, would be a stirring show of strength for champions of liberal politics.
Instead, the prime ministers, who include Canada’s Mark Carney, Australia’s Anthony Albanese, and Britain’s Keir Starmer, are meeting on Friday at a moment when their brand of progressive politics has rarely seemed more endangered.
Fickle voters, stagnant economies and a polarizing debate over immigration have left center-left governments vulnerable to right-wing populists. In the United States, the Democratic Party is limping in the political wilderness, unable, as yet, to formulate a persuasive message to counter President Trump.
Mr. Starmer, in a speech to the meeting, the Global Progress Action Summit, made an impassioned case for progressive politics in the face of a stiff challenge from Nigel Farage, whose anti-immigrant party, Reform U.K., holds almost a double-digit lead in polls over Mr. Starmer’s Labour Party.
With anxieties about immigration on the rise, the prime minister balanced that message by announcing a compulsory digital ID plan, which proponents say could deter illegal migrant workers.
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