THE DUP love Britain being at war. It’s their chance to maximise their notions of loyalty, of patriotism, to urge the British government to go stronger, harder, faster, further.

Gavin Robinson was on his feet in Westminster last Wednesday, complaining that Keir Starmer wasn’t deploying ‘capabilities’ fast enough.

He was unhappy that a destroyer to be deployed wouldn’t arrive off Cyprus until next week.

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Robinson didn’t seem to realise that since Cyprus is in the EU, it’s not up to Britain to defend the island.

The British left in 1960, you know. EU countries had already taken action to defend the island.

As Robinson spoke, a French frigate, the ‘Languedoc’, arrived at Limassol. A Spanish air defence frigate arrived yesterday.

Greek and Italian ships and the nuclear-powered French aircraft carrier ‘Charles de Gaulle’ are also in Cyprus waters. President Macron visited on Monday for discussions with the Cypriot president.

Nor did Robinson seem to know that Cypriots don’t want the British base at Akrotiri.

Hundreds took to the streets in Nicosia demanding the removal of the base. They carried banners with slogans like “We are not your launch pad”.

They mightn’t welcome a British destroyer arriving. He’s barking up the wrong tree.

On the other hand, the DUP are probably keen for Akrotiri to be retained, because that’s the air base the British have been using since 2023 to supply Israel with equipment and to fly regular surveillance flights over Gaza to keep the Israelis informed on the progress of their genocide, in which Britain is complicit.

The DUP unequivocally support the American-Zionist war in Palestine. They unequivocally support the US-Israeli war in Iran.

As long ago as 2016, prominent DUP figures were extolling the candidature of the execrable Trump.

Senior figures in the DUP support Farage. Some of their MPs sit beside Reform MPs.

Before the 2024 election, the DUP competed with the TUV to gain Farage’s support.

In all this they are outliers in English politics, English because Farage and Reform are minority interests in Scotland and Wales.

In the case of this illegal war in Iran, the DUP are also outliers. Most people in Britain don’t support the war, not only because, unlike the DUP, they don’t like Trump.

General Sir Richard Shirreff, former NATO deputy supreme allied commander Europe, said Trump’s administration was a bunch of “gung-ho nutters” who had started a war of choice with no grasp of how it will end.

Polls in Britain show 49% against the war, with only 28% approving, and a majority supporting Starmer’s stance.

Starmer’s approval ratings have even increased by 7% in the last week, though overall his unpopularity languishes at depths never before plumbed.

Shirreff’s experience in the Middle East and elsewhere might give him a bit more operational knowledge than Gavin Robinson to help make judgements, but hey, an armchair general can say what he likes without fear of retribution.

People in Britain like Shirreff remember Iraq and Afghanistan, wars costing a trillion dollars that were total failures in every respect, just as this one will be.

However, a key component in DUP decision-making is that you forget nothing but learn nothing, so you advocate the same operation regardless of international and humanitarian law and expect a different result.

Why do the DUP never question imperialism, but instead crave to participate in it with evangelical enthusiasm, even if only as cheerleaders?

Contrast that attitude with the excellent speech President Connolly gave on International Women’s Day on Saturday, when she warned that: “The catastrophic consequences of violating the UN charter cannot be ignored, the violations of international law we are witnessing are shocking and numbing. What is being witnessed in the Middle East and beyond are not political disputes but deliberate assaults on international law.”

Polling shows most people in Britain support those sentiments. The disasters of Iraq and Afghanistan, the loss of life, injuries and destruction, have left their mark.

Once again, the DUP in their desperate anxiety to attach themselves to English politics think they’ve found something to grab hold of, only to jump on the wrong bandwagon.

Their attitude and values, which they erroneously believe demonstrate their Britishness, in reality show they’re not part of British political life.

They would do well to heed the warning of John Taylor that it’s pointless to try to devise ways to insert themselves into British politics. It’s pointless because, as Taylor said, voters in Britain are not interested in them.

They should instead seriously consider the kind of northern institutions which could evolve in a united Ireland, he advised.

Hmm. Institutions here mean unionists accepting permanent minority status.

They’d get a better deal in a unitary state.

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