‘Whose side are you on?’: How Keir Starmer alienated Britain’s allies over Iran |
The American-Israeli attacks on Iran were publicly called Epic Fury, but behind the scenes it is Britain’s handling of the war which provoked that reaction – not just from Donald Trump but from the UK’s allies in the Gulf. A Labour peer was in Washington when the first missiles slammed into Tehran on Friday evening and Keir Starmer refused to voice support. A member of the Trump administration told the peer: ‘Britain used to not contribute that much, but you were a good ally. Now you’re contributing nothing and you’re not even a good ally.’
A version of events has quickly become established: a Prime Minister with a near-religious belief in international law hid behind the advice of his Attorney General, Richard Hermer, that the attacks were illegal.
Starmer came under colossal personal pressure from Trump in a series of bullying phone exchanges
Starmer came under colossal personal pressure from Trump in a series of bullying phone exchanges
The truth is more nuanced and highlights Starmer’s weakness. When the crunch came, in a National Security Council (NSC) meeting on Friday, the Prime Minister was not able to carry his own cabinet. While he did not want Britain to join the military action, he did think there was a case for allowing Trump to use the bases at Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford to launch the attacks. However, he was blocked by an alliance of Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary.
Hermer’s ruling – that international law does not permit pre-emptive strikes unless there is an ‘imminent’ threat to Britain – was already established when the Americans contacted UK officials on 11 February to ask about the use of the bases – 17 days before the offensive began, 17 days in which Britain could have done much more to prepare. The request was not that Britain join the decapitation strikes but help to protect Gulf allies from likely Iranian retaliation. ‘It was the view of almost everyone that it was not legal for the UK to be involved in the initial attack because there was no imminent threat to the UK from Iran,’ a senior government source says.
Starmer came under colossal personal pressure from Trump in a series of bully-ing phone call exchanges which one source, with Whitehall understatement, calls ‘scratchy’. Another source says: ‘Trump was very angry, demanding, “Why won’t you let me use the bases?” We frequently talk about being shoulder to shoulder with the Americans but, as far as he is concerned, when it mattered to him we were not.’ Matt Collins, the deputy national security adviser, was despatched to talk to Elbridge Colby, the US undersecretary for war, and ‘got both barrels’ as well.
On Friday, ministers attending the NSC were briefed that Iran would ‘fire back at our allies in the region’ and ‘we can then be involved’ to help defend them. ‘That then turned into a massive political argument,’ a senior security........