And among those first few calls was one to Simon Harris. This is because our relationship with Ireland is unique, given our deep shared interest in Northern Ireland, a shared land border and Common Travel Area; but also because it’s a relationship that is particularly important today in the wider context, given the challenging world around us.

The prime minister regards the Good Friday Agreement as the greatest achievement of the last Labour government and as a central priority for the new government he will lead. He and his Northern Ireland secretary, Hilary Benn, worked with the government to help secure the Windsor Framework, and cross-party acceptance for it in Northern Ireland.

Those efforts wouldn’t have succeeded without the Irish Government and that partnership between London and Dublin is one the new British government wants to renew, as Hilary Benn and David Lammy, the new foreign secretary, told the Tánaiste in their initial calls on Friday evening.

Northern Ireland needs stability and long-term certainty. We will work to improve public services, public finances, and economic growth. For growth in particular, partnership with Ireland, the EU, and US, is crucial.

On the legacy of the Troubles, we will return to the principles of the Stormont House Agreement with Ireland, to find a way forward which commands support across communities.

We will be unequivocally committed to the European Convention on Human Rights, because it’s integral to the Good Friday Agreement, but also because it’s fundamental to the values and interests of our wider foreign policy.

Over the last decade, the world has grown more volatile and insecure. Populism, disinformation, and intolerance are on the march. War has returned to Europe.

The prime minister heads to Washington to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Nato, which the first post-war Labour government was proud to help create. I know from my own time as the UK lead negotiator in Nato how central our ideas, values, and forces can be to the alliance. We will invest heavily in Nato and European security.

We seek an ambitious relationship with our European partners, including resetting the relationship with the EU. As the Labour party’s manifesto made clear: “There will be no return to the single market, the customs union, or freedom of movement.”

Instead, we will work to improve the UK’s trade and investment relationship with the EU, including by seeking to negotiate a veterinary agreement to prevent unnecessary border checks, which would greatly help the implementation of the Windsor Framework.

We will seek an ambitious UK-EU security pact. I was engaged on this as one of our ambassadors to the EU in the early stages of the Brexit process and we can see great potential in working with the EU on “security” broadly defined, embracing health and energy, as well as foreign, security, and defence policy.

We will prioritise promotion and protection of multilateral institutions, which are struggling under the strain of new global challenges. We will use our position in Nato, the UN, G7, G20, and the Commonwealth to address the threats we face, and to uphold human rights and international law.

No country has done more to damage the rules-based order than Putin’s Russia. Our military, financial, diplomatic and political support for Ukraine will remain steadfast. We will support efforts to hold Russia to account for its illegal war. On China, we will bring a long-term and strategic approach to managing our relations. We will cooperate where we can, compete where we need to, and challenge where we must.

Diplomacy, like charity, begins at home. To be effective internationally you need to be economically strong at home. Ireland is an exemplar. So the new government’s first mission will be to grow our economy. We will work to attract foreign direct investment into the UK and expand markets for British exporters. Ireland, one of our top six trading partners, will be crucial to this endeavour. A central part of that co-operation can be joint action to accelerate the climate transition and build energy independence and interdependence.

After Keir Starmer came to Dublin as leader of the opposition almost exactly two years ago, he wrote to thank me for helping with his visit. In his letter he described the relationship between the UK and Ireland as “profound and unique”. It was heartening but not surprising to hear the Taoiseach and Tánaiste reciprocate this warmth in their public and private remarks on Friday. As a new week and indeed a new era starts, I’m more than even confident that a deep and special partnership will be taken forward with energy in the weeks and months to come.