Keir Starmer and David Lammy held private discussions on election strategy with Barack Obama

Last week, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and his new shadow foreign secretary David Lammy held private talks with former US president Barack Obama to discuss how centre-left parties can return to power.

Commenting on the confidential discussions to the Observer, Mr Lammy that issues including party funding and media coverage were front and centre in the discussions. “It really is about how progressive parties win and how Labour can fight back in an environment where our opponents have 10-to-one more funds than us”, Mr Lammy added.

The talks come as Labour surged to a nine-point lead over the Conservatives in an Opinium poll for the Observer, the largest Labour advantage since 2014 recorded by Opinium.

Lammy said Obama was encouraging. “He knows that things can change very much with politics. The themes and challenges are common. Progressive parties have found themselves on the back foot in a populist age, and we have to learn from each other and from colleagues who are winning”.

Shortly after Joe Biden led the Democratic party to victory over Republican Donald Trump in November 2020, Starmer said the US election held “stark lessons” for Labour. Adding that the Democrats’ “path to victory was paved by a broad coalition, including states and communities that four years ago turned away from them”.