Thank you for joining The Telegraph’s coverage of the Munich Security Conference this morning.

Sir Keir Starmer declared Britain must move closer to the EU single market in a speech that also saw him argue Britain “is no longer the Britain of the Brexit years”.

The Prime Minister’s remarks are likely to prompt calls from within his own party to go even further in moving closer to Europe.

The Liberal Democrats have called Sir Keir Starmer’s vow to move closer to Europe “meaningless blather” because he will not rejoin the customs union.

Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: “By refusing to even consider a customs union, Keir Starmer himself is the biggest block to closer ties with Europe.

“Unless he changes that stance, this is all just meaningless blather.”

Nigel Farage has insisted Sir Keir Starmer is on “borrowed time”.

The Reform UK leader said: “In a desperate attempt to save his job, Keir Starmer is attacking Reform UK today.

“This weak, unpatriotic Prime Minister caves in to China, gives away the Chagos Islands and refuses to properly fund our Armed Forces. He is on borrowed time.”

Sir Keir Starmer was asked whether recent turmoil in Westminster was “distracting you”.

The Prime Minister responded: “No, I’d reject that. I ended the week much stronger than I started it and that’s a very good place to be.

“And my party and my Government is completely united on the question of Ukraine and defence and security and the need for stronger relations with Europe, on defence, on security and economy as well.

“I think there is real strength in the position I’ve now set out. The whole of the Government is united behind that. I think actually it unites across the House of Commons, not everybody I accept. Reform have a different agenda, they’re pro-Putin, we know where they stand. Imagine if they were in government in the United Kingdom.

“The Coalition of the Willing could not exist with UK participation in it, we would not be seen as a leader on the European or international stage, we would be seen as a country that people couldn’t do business with. So it’s not universal across Parliament but there’s a very strong feeling amongst right-minded politicians that we stick together on Ukraine.”

Sir Keir said he was pleased that the Conservatives under Kemi Badenoch supported his approach towards Ukraine.

Sir Keir Starmer told Donald Trump the west must “remind ourselves who the aggressor is” in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Asked about the apparent ambivalence of the US towards the conflict, Sir Keir said: “In 10 days is the four year anniversary of the beginning of the conflict. And it is therefore important to remind ourselves who the aggressor is.

“The aggressor is Russia and the quickest way for this conflict to end is for Russia to stop its aggression. And therefore we’re not dealing with two equal parties, there’s an aggressor which is Russia and there is Ukraine which has been subject to attack and killing and bombing and paid a huge price.”

Sir Keir said a just and lasting peace was only possible with security guarantees, saying: “The one thing we know about Putin is if nothing sits behind it, he’ll go again.”

Sir Keir Starmer was asked whether he thought the threat to Greenland from Donald Trump was over.

He responded: “Firstly, I’m very pleased that this is now in a process of dialogue which is where it should have been.

“The security in the Arctic is really important to all of us and we need to do more. That’s why I announced what I announced about that carrier strike group.

“I thought that those weeks of Greenland were quite instructive because we had certainly from the British point of view the usual mix of common sense pragmatism but sticking to our values and principles. And across Europe, we stuck to those values and principles about sovereignty and why sovereignty matters. And it was a period in which there was intense collaboration and security among European leaders. And I was very pleased we did it in the way we did.”

Sir Keir added that “we all need to do more” on security in the high north.

Sir Keir Starmer said Nato was “the single most effective military alliance the world has ever known” and that “we must not move away from it”.

He told a question-and-answer session: “The reality on the ground so far as the UK is concerned is we are working with the US on defence, security and intelligence 24/7, every single day. That is the reality of what’s happening and that is as tight now as it’s ever been and I see no sign of that weakening.

“Nor should it because that’s in the interests of the United Kingdom as well as Europe and globally … I am often urged in my own Parliament that we should just walk away from what we’ve got and I reject that.

“But I think simply sitting where we are isn’t good enough, and therefore the change does need to come, that needs Europe to be stronger, to be working more closely together, and that’s why I said what I said about the UK-EU relationship.

“We are 10 years on from Brexit, we are not the Britain of the Brexit years. We’re a Britain that wants to work with the EU even more closely in light of the challenge that we face here 10 years on. That will take time, we are working together. We had a very good UK-EU summit last year, we will have another one this year where we can make greater steps forward. But this is of some urgency because on defence and security, until the Ukraine conflict, we didn’t really wake up to the reality we were facing.”

Sir Keir Starmer attacked Reform UK and the Greens as “soft on Russia” and “weak on Nato”.

Closing his speech at the European Security conference, Sir Keir said: “We must work harder today to build consent for the decisions we must take to keep us safe.

“Because if we don’t, the peddlers of easy answers are ready on the extremes of Left and Right. And they will offer their solutions instead.

“It’s striking that the different ends of the spectrum share so much. Soft on Russia, weak on Nato, if not outright opposed. And determined to sacrifice the relationship we need on the altar of their ideology. The future they offer is one of division and then capitulation. The lamps would go out across Europe once again.

“But we will not let that happen. If we believe in our values, in democracy, liberty and the rule of law, this is the moment to stand up and to fight for them. That is why we must work together and show that by taking responsibility for our own security, we will help our people look forward not with fear but with determination and with hope.”

Sir Keir Starmer said the UK must “look again” at how it can grow closer to Europe on the economy.

Sir Keir said: “This includes looking again at closer economic alignment. We are already aligned with the single market in some areas, to drive down the prices of food and energy.

“We are trusted partners and as the Chancellor of the Exchequer said this week, deeper economic integration is in all of our interests. So we must look at where we could move closer to the single market in other sectors as well, where that would work for both sides.

“The prize here is greater security, stronger growth for the United Kingdom and the EU which will fuel increased defence spending and the chance to place the UK at the centre of a wave of European industrial renewal.

“I understand the politics very well. It will mean trade-offs. But the status quo is not fit for purpose … I will always fight for what’s best for my country.”

Sir Keir Starmer announced Britain will deploy the Navy to the north Atlantic before the end of this year.

The Prime Minister said: “I can announce today that the UK will deploy our carrier strike group to the north Atlantic and the high north this year, led by HMS Prince of Wales, operating alongside the US, Canada and other Nato allies in a powerful show of our commitment to Euro-Atlantic security.”

He continued: “We must also look at what more we can do with the EU. We must go beyond the historic steps that we took at last year’s UK-EU summit to build the formidable productive power and innovative strength that we need.

“British companies already account for over a quarter of the continent’s defence industrial base. They are a job creating, community building machine employing around 239,000 people around the United Kingdom. We want to bring our leadership in defence, tech and AI to multiply our strengths and build a shared industrial base across our continent which can turbocharge our defence production. That requires leadership, to drive greater coherence and coordination across Europe.”

Sir Keir Starmer said: “As I see it Europe is a sleeping giant. Our economies dwarf Russia’s more than 10 times over. We have huge defence capabilities. But too often this adds up less to sum of its parts.”

Sir Keir said Europe must break its “wildly inefficient” approach to military and security policy, adding: “It is clear that we must spend more [on defence], faster…

“The logic of defence is solidarity and collective effort, not market access. So we need to deliver a step change in collaboration.”

Sir Keir Starmer insisted Europe must “answer the call” from the US to play a greater part in looking after European security.

Sir Keir said of Nato: “It is the shield over our heads every single day. Whilst some on the extremes of our politics chip away at this alliance, we defend it. And I’m proud that my party fought for Nato’s creation.”

The Prime Minister said Nato “fought together in Afghanistan at terrible cost to many in my country and many allied countries”, adding the UK’s commitment to the alliance was “as profound as ever”.

He continued: “Be in no doubt, if called on, the UK would come to your aid today.”

Sir Keir Starmer told the Munich Security Conference: “We must rise to this moment. We must spend more, deliver more and coordinate more and crucially we must do this with the United States.

“The US remains an indispensable ally. Its contribution to European security over 80 years is unparalleled and so is our gratitude. At the same time we recognise that things are changing. The US national security strategy spells out that Europe must take primary responsibility for its own defence. That is the new normal.”

Sir Keir said “the world has changed fundamentally”, adding: “We must find new ways to uphold our values and the rule of law.

“But in responding to that change, we must not disregard everything that has sustained us for the last 80 years. That could prove to be a moment of destruction. But instead I believe we must make this a moment of creation instead of a moment of rupture, we must make it one of radical renewal.

“So rather than pretending that we can simply replace all US capabilities, we should focus on diversifying and decreasing some dependencies. We should deliver generational investments that moves us from overdependence to interdependence.”

Sir Keir Starmer said: “People who look different to each other can live peacefully together, that this isn’t against the tenor of our times. Rather, it’s what makes us strong as we’re prepared to defend it with everything we have.

“Now we are not the Britain of the Brexit years any more.”

At this point, Sir Keir was interrupted by a round of applause. He continued: “And that is because we know that in a dangerous world we would not take control by turning inward. We would surrender it and I won’t let that happen.

“That’s why I devote time as Prime Minister to Britain’s leadership on the world stage and that’s why I’m here today because I am clear there is no British security without Europe, and no European security without Britain. That is the lesson of history and is today’s reality as well.”

Sir Keir Starmer told the Munich Security Conference: “At the outset, it is important to be clear. We do not seek conflict. Our objective is lasting peace, a return to strategic stability and the rule of law.

“But in the face of these threats, there is only one viable option before us. Now to break the convention of a thousand speeches, we are not at a crossroads today, the road ahead is straight and it is clear.

“We must build our hard power, because that is the currency of the age. We must be able to deter aggression and yes, if necessary, we must be ready to fight, to do whatever it takes to protect our people, our values and our way of life.”

Sir Keir said Europe must be “bolder” and put away “petty politics” to build “a stronger Europe and a more European Nato”.

He said this would be “underpinned by deeper links between the UK and the EU across defence, industry, tech, politics and the wider economy because these are the foundations on which our security and prosperity will rest”.

Sir Keir Starmer told Ursula von der Leyen: “It’s always a real pleasure to follow you on this stage as we work ever more closely together.”

Sir Keir continued: “For many years, for most people in the United Kingdom, war has been remote. Something that concerns us deeply but which happens far away. But now we feel the solidity of peace, the very ground that we stand on, softening under our feet.

“It is the job of leaders to be ahead of these seismic shifts yet that is against the grain of history. Time and again leaders have looked the other way, only rearming when disaster is upon them. This time must be different.

“Because all of the warning signs are there. Russia has proved its appetite for aggression, bringing terrible suffering to the Ukrainian people. Its hybrid threats extend across our continent, not just threatening our security but tearing at our social contract, collaborating with populists who undermine our values.

“Using disinformation to sow division, using cyber-attacks and sabotage to disrupt our lives and deepening the cost of living crisis. Now it’s true Russia has made a huge strategic blunder in Ukraine and that Russian casualties number well over a million. But even as the war goes on, Russia is rearming, reconstituting their armed forces and industrial base.”

Sir Keir said Russia could be ready to use military against Nato “by the end of this decade”.

Ursula von der Leyen concluded by restating the need for an “independent Europe”.

She said: “Thank you very much and long live Europe.”

Ursula von der Leyen said Britain and the European Union’s futures were “as bound as ever”.

The president of the European Commission told Sir Keir Starmer: “Our futures are as bound as ever, dear Keir.

“So it is in our common interest to be ambitious about our partnership, because the UK and the European Union, in fact all of Europe, we are in this together and we will always stick together. This is the common promise.”

Ursula von der Leyen admitted the European Union must “take decisions faster” and learn from the successes of initiatives such as the Joint Expeditionary Force.

She said: “All for one and all for one, and this is Europe’s meaning. But the commitment only carries weight if it is built on trust and capabilities. And this is why we must be collectively ready.

“We must take decisions faster, and this may mean relying on the result of qualified majority rather than unanimity. And we do not need to change the treaty for that, we need to use the one we have.

“And we need to be creative. Take the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force, which is outside but complementary to Nato. It brings together 10 European countries to deter and to reassure in the High north of the Baltic region.

“Or take the Coalition of the Willing, led by you, Keir, and president Macron.”

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, told the Munich Security Conference: “An independent Europe is a strong Europe and a strong Europe makes for a stronger transatlantic alliance.

“Today is the time for action and I want to focus on Europe’s plan for independence.”

She continued: “Europe needs to step up and has to take on its responsibility. Admittedly it has taken some shock therapy and some lines have been crossed that cannot be uncrossed any more.

“But the ‘what is needed’, at least, we all agree on and we are delivering. The numbers tell their own story. Defence spending in Europe in 2025 was up close to 80 per cent since before the war in Ukraine.

“The European Union is mobilising up to 800bn euros. With our capacities we are investing in the capabilities we need.”

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, called Sir Keir Starmer an “unflinching ally and friend”.

Ms von der Leyen said: “I am delighted to be here with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, an unflinching ally and friend.”

She added: “In a fractured world … Europe must become more independent. There is no other choice.”

A former head of Nato said there were “reasons for concern” about whether the US is still a reliable ally.;

Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of Nato from 2014 to 2024, told Sky News: “Of course, many European countries view those challenges in a different way but we have a lot in common. We need to find the common ground and I think we can live with differences.

“Nato is an alliance of 32 democratic countries with different histories, different political parties in government. But despite the differences we have a lot in common and throughout the decades have been able to protect and defend each other.”

Mr Stoltenberg was then asked whether the US was a reliable partner. He said: “There are also reasons for concern and it is unacceptable to claim the territory of another country and in particular the territory of an allied country. Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.”

“There are some serious difficulties but we have also a lot in common and therefore we need to strengthen what we have in common and find ways to deal with the difficulties.”

Sir Keir Starmer will promise closer ties with Europe and attack Nigel Farage in a keynote speech at Europe’s biggest defence conference.

The Prime Minister is to use his remarks at the Munich Security Conference to claim that the UK is no longer “the Britain of the Brexit years”.

Sir Keir will claim that turning inwards would amount to a “surrender” of control during an era of heightened international instability.

He is expected to say: “We are not the Britain of the Brexit years any more. Because we know that, in dangerous times, we would not take control by turning inward – we would surrender it. And I won’t let that happen.”

The Chinese foreign minister was asked what Beijing could do to help end the war in Ukraine.

Wang Yi replied: “China’s position and stance is clear that all regional hotspot issues should be resolved through dialogue and consultation, and we need to find a political settlement. So this holds true for the Ukraine crisis.

“But China is not a party directly involved. We don’t have the final say. What we are doing is to promote talks for peace, so that’s why we sent our special representative and shadow diplomacy and through all possible channels we have been sending our message that we want to see a cessation of hostilities at an early date and the resumption of dialogue.

“Finally, we are seeing the peace talks have been begun and what are being discussed are the real issues. We welcome this, because without dialogue, how can peace arrive? Without dialogue, a treaty will not fall from the sky.”

Mr Yi said Europe must not watch the conflict “from the sidelines” as it had last year as the US opened talks with Russia.

China appeared to accuse Nato of “double standards” and “self-serving unilateralism”.

Wang Yi, Beijing’s foreign minister, said: “Nato countries in particular should lead by example. They should take the lead in advancing cooperation instead of conflict or confrontation.

“They should take the lead in observing rules instead of applying double standards. They should take the lead in promoting equality instead of imposing their will onto others. And they should take the lead in encouraging openness instead of resorting to self-serving unilateralism.

“The Global South is rising proactively. The global governing system should also stay up to date to give more prominence to their voices and representation.”

Marco Rubio has admitted that “we don’t know” if Russia really wants to end the war in Ukraine.

The US secretary of state said: “We don’t know the Russians are serious about ending the war.

“They say they are … We’re going to continue to test it. In the meantime, everything else continues to happen.”

His comments echo similar assessments by Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, in their own speeches on Friday.

Marco Rubio told the Munich Security Conference: “We do not want our allies to be weak because that makes us weaker.

“We want allies who can defend themselves so no adversary will be tempted to our collective strength.”

Warning against being “shackled by guilt and shame”; “We want allies who are proud of their culture and of their heritage, who understand that we are heirs to the same great and noble civilisation and who together with us are willing and able to defend it.”

He declared: “We in America have no interest in being orderly polite and caretakers of the West’s managed decline. We do not seek to separate, but to revitalise and old friendship and renew the greatest civilisation in human history.

“What we want is a reinvigorated alliance that recognises that what has ailed our societies is not just a set of bad policies but a malaise of hopelessness and complacency. The alliance that we want is not one that is paralysed into inaction by fear, fear of climate change, fear of war, fear of technology. What we want instead is an alliance that boldly races into the future.”

Mr Rubio has now turned his guns on the United Nations, which he says has “tremendous” potential but which has done nothing to solve crises such as the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

Instead, he says, the world has American leadership and its partners to thank for this.

“The United Nations still has tremendous potential to be a tool for good in the world. But we cannot ignore that today on the most pressing matters before us, it has no answers,” he says.

“It could not solve the war in Gaza. Instead, it was American leadership that freed captives from barbarians and brought about a fragile truce.

“It has not solved the war in Ukraine. It took American leadership in partnership with many of the countries here today just to bring the two sides to the table in search of a still elusive peace.”

It is a bruising assessment of the United Nations which hints that the Trump Administration would like to significantly reform it.

Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, declared mass migration was an “urgent threat to the fabric of our societies”.

In his speech at the Munich Security Conference, Mr Rubio said: “We must also gain control of our national borders, controlling who and how many people enter our countries. This is not an expression of xenophobia, it is not hate.

“It is a fundamental act of national sovereignty and the failure to do so is not just an abdication of one of our most basic duties owed to our people, it is an urgent threat to the fabric of our societies and the survival of our civilisation itself.”

Marco Rubio told the Munich Security Conference: “The work of this new alliance should not just be focused on military cooperation and reclaiming the industries of the past. It should be also focused on together advancing our mutual interest in new frontiers, unshackling our ingenuity, our creativity and the dynamic spirit to build a new Western century.

“Commercial space travel and cutting-edge artificial intelligence. Industrial automation and flex manufacturing, creating a Western supply chain for critical minerals not vulnerable to extortion from other powers…

“Together we can not only take back control of our own supply chains, we will prosper in the areas that will define the 21st century.”

Marco Rubio said the US was seeking to defend “a great civilisation that has every reason to be proud of its history, confident of its future and aims to always be the master of its own economic and political destiny”.

The US secretary of state name-checked Shakespeare, Dante, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Sistine Chapel and Cologne Cathedral as symbols of what Europe had achieved culturally.

“They testify not just to the greatness of our past, or to a faith in God that inspired these marvels, they foreshadow the wonders that await us in our future.”

Mr Rubio continued: “Deindustrialisation was not inevitable. It was a conscious policy choice, a decades-long economic undertaking that stripped our nations of their wealth, of their productive capacity and of their independence.

“And the loss of our supply chain sovereignty was not a function of a prosperous and healthy system of global trade, it was foolish … It left us dependant others for our needs and dangerously vulnerable to crisis.”

Marco Rubio said there was an “unbreakable link” between the US and Europe, declaring: “We belong together.”

“We are part of one civilisation, Western civilisation, we are bound to one another by the deepest bonds that nations could share, forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry, and the sacrifices our forefathers made together for the common civilisation.

“And this is why we Americans may sometimes come across as a little direct and urgent in our counsel. This is why president Trump demands seriousness and reciprocity from our friends here in Europe. The reason why, my friends, is because we care deeply. We care deeply about your future and ours.

“And if at times we disagree, our disagreements come from a profound sense of concern about a Europe with which we are connected. Not just economically, not just militarily, we are connected spiritually and we are connected culturally. We want Europe to be strong, we believe Europe must be survive.

“Because the two great wars of the last century serve for us as history’s constant reminder that ultimately our destiny is, and will always be, intertwined with yours.”

These remarks was followed by the first round of applause for Mr Rubio, who continued: “The fate of Europe will never be irrelevant to our own.”

Marco Rubio invited European leaders to join the US in cracking down on mass migration and the “cult” of climate policy.

The US secretary of state said: “To appease a climate cult, we have imposed energy policies on ourselves that are impoverishing our people, even as our competitors exploit coal and oil and natural gas and anything else, not just to power their economies but to use as leverage against our own.

“And in pursuit of a world without borders, we opened our doors to an unprecedented wave of mass migration that threatens the cohesion of our societies, the continuity of our culture and the future of our people. We made these mistakes together and now together we owe it to our people to face those facts and to move forward, to rebuild.

“Under president Trump, the United States of America will once again take on the task of renewal and restoration, driven by a vision of a future as proud, as sovereign and as vital as our civilisation’s past. And while we are prepared if necessary to do this alone, it is our preference and it is our hope to do this together with you, our friends in Europe.

Donald Trump’s secretary of state accused some Western nations of prioritising welfare and free trade over national security.

Marco Rubio told the Munich Security Conference: “We embraced a dogmatic vision of free and unfettered trade, even as some nation protected their economies and subsidised their companies to systematically undercut ours, shuttering our plans, resulting in large parts of our societies being deindustrialised, shipping millions of working and middle class jobs overseas, and handing control of our critical supply chains to both adversaries and rivals.

“We increasingly outsourced our sovereignty to international institutions while many nations invested in massive welfare states at the cost of maintaining the ability to defend themselves. This, even as other countries have invested in the most rapid military build-up in human history and have not hesitated to use hard power to pursue their own interests.”

Recalling the first Munich Security Conference in the 1960s, Marco Rubio said: “The time of that gathering, Soviet communism was on the march. Thousands of years of Western civilisation hung in the balance. At that time, victory was far from certain.

“But we were driven by common purpose. We were unified not just by what we were fighting against, we were united by what we were fighting for. And together, Europe and America prevailed and a continent was rebuilt.

“Our people prospered. In time, the east and west blocs were reunited. Civilisation was once again made whole. That infamous wall that had cleaved this nation into two came down and with it an evil empire and the east and west became one again.

“But the euphoria of this triumph led us to a dangerous delusion that we had entered the ‘end of history’, that every nation would now be a liberal democracy, that the ties formed by trade and by commerce alone would now replace nationhood, that the rules-based global order, an overused term, would now replace the national interest, and that we would now live in a world without borders where everyone became a citizen of the world.

“This was a foolish idea that ignored both human nature and ignored the lessons of over 5,000 years of recorded human history and it has cost us dearly.”

Marco Rubio opened his speech by saying: “We gather here today as members of a historic alliance, an alliance that saved and changed the world.

“When this conference began in 1963 it was in a nation, actually it was on a continent, that was divided against itself. The line between communism and freedom ran through the heart of Germany.

“The first barbed fences of the Berlin Wall had gone up just two years prior.”

We are waiting for Marco Rubio to speak here at the Munich Security Conference and the atmosphere is a little bit tense.

Last year, US Vice President JD Vance was the main speaker from the Trump Administration, and his speech was essentially a 30-minute tirade against Europe.

During that speech, Mr Vance essentially warned that Europe was destroying itself through mass migration and the erosion of free speech

Mr Rubio is expected to give a slightly less fulminous address today, in line with his status as one of the less ideological, MAGA-fuelled figures in Washington.

It will most likely focus on foreign policy, Russia, and possibly China, rather than the state of Europe.

But there is always a possibility of the audience – which today includes Sir Keir Starmer, Friedrich Merz and Emmanuel Macron – getting a nasty surprise.

For the global defence industry, the Munich Security Conference is a chance to mingle with world leaders and pick up the odd intelligence titbit.

But attendees at Europe’s most important defence summit – at a critical time for the continent’s security – may be looking nervously over their shoulders amid the grand decor of Hotel Bayerischer Hof.

For the first time in two years, and following a ban for its pro-Kremlin views, the hard-Right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is on the guest list.

The AfD delegation will be able to meet heads of state and listen to sensitive security briefings – not to mention gossip – about global affairs.

The party’s attendance has caused a furore among its rivals in German politics, who fear it will use the summit as an opportunity to spy.

Good morning. Dominic Penna here, The Telegraph’s Senior Political Correspondent, guiding you through the Munich Security Conference.

Marco Rubio has warned of a “new era” in world politics ahead of his keynote speech at the Munich Security Conference, which is Europe’s most important dfence summit.

Mr Rubio, Donald Trump’s Secretary of State, is to speak at about 8am British time.

Later in the morning, Sir Keir Starmer will also give remarks.

Speaking to reporters overnight, Mr Rubio said: “The world is changing very fast right in front of us.

“We live in a new era in geopolitics, and it’s going to require all of us to sort of re-examine what that looks like and what our role is going to be.”