No one claims that Olaf Scholz rushed his visit.

When he arrives in London for the first time as German Chancellor this Friday, he will have been in office for exactly four months, which also reflects the cooled relations since Brexit.

This – more precisely: the post-Brexit process and the Northern Ireland Protocol – will probably only be a side issue because the war in Ukraine has created new priorities.

This in turn, despite minor controversies, harbors the chance of a revaluation of the relationship.

Jochen Buchsteiner

Political correspondent in London.

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Scholz' announcements to increase the defense budget considerably and to deliver weapons to the Ukrainian war zone are also described in London with the German term "Zeitenwende".

Everywhere the Chancellor was met with "admiration", although there are doubts as to the extent to which he is walking the talk.

After all, criticism of Germany (and France) has weakened in recent days.

At the end of March, government sources were quoted as saying that Berlin and Paris were "overzealously" pushing for a negotiated solution to the Ukraine war.

While Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks almost daily with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron prefer to talk to Vladimir Putin on the phone, it said poisonously.

Criticism also from Poland

But the tone has changed.

There is now talk of “different speeds, but the same goals”.

You are "not in a competition" and there is "no need to apply too much pressure".

In London attention is drawn to two recent developments.

For one thing, the Russian war crimes in Bucha swept away the last illusions in Berlin and Paris that an agreement could be reached with Putin.

On the other hand, Berlin and Paris would now pull together with London and Washington.

The group of four had agreed internally to jointly support Ukraine in negotiations with Russia.

A government official told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that the fact that the "Normandy format", which did not provide for space for London and Washington, was buried from the British perspective was "acknowledged with satisfaction".

At the same time, London is expanding its role as the driving force behind a tough Western policy on Russia.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss summed up the British stance at a dinner in Brussels on Wednesday, turning the former German mantra - "no security without Russia" - on its head.

"The age of dialogue with Russia is over," she said.

"We need a new approach to security in Europe based on resilience, defense and deterrence." There must be an end to "false convenience".