We have suffered our worst humiliation since the fall of Singapore
We have suffered our worst national humiliation since the Suez debacle, if not the fall of Singapore. This time, though, we lack the excuse of having been pressured by allies or attacked by foes. The decision to cower and plead neutrality even as Iranian proxies were lobbing ordnance at us was entirely our own.
Sir Keir Starmer’s pusillanimity has left us looking weak, needy and duplicitous. And all for what? Anxiety about anti-Israel voters in constituencies like Gorton and Denton? Fear of crossing our human-rights obsessed Attorney General, Lord Hermer?
Our insistence on sitting out the Iran war, first denying the use of our bases to the United States and then offering them in a lawyerly and conditional way, has not only soured relations with Washington; it has horrified our friends in the region.
Prestige is a hard commodity in the Levant, as real as olive oil or cedarwood. The leaders of Cyprus and the Gulf monarchies have watched open-mouthed as we respond to Iranian missile strikes against our military facilities with platitudes about international law.
A Labour politician – speaking off the record, obviously – put it starkly this week. “The Jordanians, Emiratis, Kuwaitis, and even the Canadians, are all asking, ‘What the f— are you doing? Whose side are you on?’” It really is quite an achievement, in the current geopolitical climate, to have caused offence equally to Israelis and Arabs, to Mark Carney and Donald Trump.
How did we end up in this mess? There are two explanations, and I am not sure which of them is less flattering. The first is what German historians call Primat der Innenpolitik: the theory that all foreign policy is driven by domestic concerns. Put bluntly, Labour is appealing to that section of the electorate that is so driven by hatred of Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu that it sides automatically with their enemies.
It is not a new phenomenon sadly. Many Leftist intellectuals backed the Islamic Revolution, most notoriously the polo-necked paedophile Michel Foucault who, though he despised religion, praised the “political spirituality” of the mullahs. Iranian Leftists made the same miscalculation, supporting a regime that ended up shooting them in batches in 1988.
This self-loathing, illiberal, enemy-of-my-enemy tendency survived the fall of the Berlin Wall, kept alive by organisations like Stop the War. It came terrifyingly close to winning power under Jeremy Corbyn. Then, just as the generation of Cold War fifth columnists was retiring, a new generation, radicalised by the conflict in Gaza, took up their cause.
It is important to stress that Labour is appealing to anti-Israel voters rather than, as the misleading shorthand often has it, Muslim voters. There are plenty of British Muslims who loathe the Iranian regime, and there are plenty of non-Muslims of the Foucault/Corbyn type who will back any group, however vile, provided it is sufficiently hostile to Britain and Israel.
These voters have moved en bloc to the Green Party, and Labour is desperate to win them back. If that means that the Prime Minister must repeatedly make himself look pathetic by stressing on the airwaves that he is not attacking Iran, it is a price he seems content to pay.
In justifying his position, Starmer has spoken repeatedly of acting only on a “lawful basis”. Yet he alone seems to interpret international law as meaning that his country may not strike at a rogue nation that is seeking to acquire the Bomb.
[…]
As the rest of the world picks sides, Britain is left muttering about due process, nitpicking over niceties, proclaiming its loyalty to a legal order that others have abandoned, searching for one last international tribunal to which to surrender. As with net zero, we are obsessing over a policy that no one else is seriously pretending to follow. Far from making us look noble, it makes us look fatuous..
The Telegraph: continue reading
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Starmer desperately tries to mend US ‘special relationship’ with Trump crisis talks after major transatlantic rift breaks out over Iran war and allies trade insults
Donald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer today held crisis talks over the US-UK ‘special relationship’ amid a rift unseen in decades sparked by the war with Iran.
The two leaders spoke this afternoon, for the first time since the fighting began, after a weekend in which the US president and the Labour administration traded barbs over the UK’s refusal to join the fighting.
In an astonishing outburst late on Saturday, Trump hit out at Sir Keir for agreeing defensive assistance only as Washington attacks Tehran alongside Israel.
He used his Truth Social social media platform to warn the US will ‘remember’ the lack of support from ‘our once great ally’ and suggested the PM was attempting to join a war after it had already been won.
In response, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper this morning hit back saying ‘diplomacy through social media isn’t our style’ and said it was not in the UK’s interests to be ‘outsourcing our foreign policy’.
The UK Government has not joined the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which began last weekend, with the PM saying last week he does not believe in ‘regime change from the skies’.
But it has accepted a request from the US to use its military bases for the ‘specific and limited defensive purpose’ of destroying Iran’s missiles ‘at source’.
This afternoon No10 said the two leaders discussed ‘the military cooperation between the UK and US through the use of RAF bases in support of the collective self-defence of partners in the region’.
Appearing on Sky News today Ms Cooper defended Sir Keir for refusing to join offensive action, saying it was not ‘in the UK’s national interest’ to attack Iran.
Asked about the Trump attack, she said: ‘Keir Starmer’s style of doing politics is obviously very different, and I think that kind of calm, cool-headed approach to these big, serious, international issues… I really think that is right.
‘And we’re not going to do things in terms of the rhetoric or hyperbole, we’re going to do things on really practical, calm, steady decision-making. Because I think that is actually the British character more widely… to do things in a serious and steady way.’
She also lashed out at former Labour PM Tony Blair, who criticised Sir Keir for not lining up alongside the US like he did in Iraq at an event in London.
‘I think the point is to make sure that, actually, we learn the lessons from some of the things that went wrong in Iraq, and I think that is exactly what Keir Starmer has done,’ she said.
A spokeswoman for Sir Tony said that his comments had been made at a private event and were not intended to be publicised.
Trump last night told Sir Keir he does not need the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers in a new blow to the so-called ‘special relationship’.
He posted on his Truth Social platform: ‘The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East.
‘That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer – But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!’
The Daily Mail: continue reading
Thank you for this article and for all of your hard work. I’m in The US, and I care very deeply about the people in The UK. After finding out that Trump had made some tech giants over here Army brass, I don’t think Trump or Starmer has any of our best interests in mind. I think they mean to terrorize all of us with their good cop (Trump) bad cop ( Starmer) scenario and that with Tony Blair and Netanyahu and Kushner ( jr and senior) always in the background. King Charles hasn’t helped either. Sorry for venting. I really do appreciate your newspaper and try and repost your headlines as often as I can. I know it’s a dangerous business shining a light on darkness. You do good work. Thank you and God bless you all.