This is not been Keir Starmer’s finest week on the world stage. At the G7 on Tuesday, the Prime Minister breezily dismissed talk that the Americans would shortly join Israeli’s attack on Iran. ‘There’s nothing the President said that suggests he’s about to get involved in this conflict,’ he insisted. ‘On the contrary, throughout the dinner yesterday, I was sitting right next to President Trump, so I’ve no doubt in my mind the level of agreement there was.’ Within hours, Trump left Alberta to return to the White House Situation Room and approve the final attack plan for Iran.
Then there was the row over whether US bombers would launch from Diego Garcia, the British military base on the Chagos Islands. Yet legal advice from Lord Hermer – Starmer’s choice of Attorney General – ensured that there was confusion about the legality of Britain’s potential involvement in the conflict. Unsurprisingly, the American assault ended up being launched from Missouri instead. This was followed by Whitehall briefing about ‘de-escalation’ and diplomatic options – even while Washington was preparing to attack. Starmer himself said that ‘the principle is that we need to de-escalate this. There’s a real risk of escalation here that will impact the region.’
It is only, now, on Sunday morning that Sir Keir Starmer has had to give the US his belated support for the bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities. He posted on X that the White House has ‘taken action to alleviate the threat’ and is urging Iran to negotiate– a very different line to that adopted on Tuesday and then on Thursday. Jonny Reynolds, the Business Secretary, told Sky that the UK was informed in advance of the US assault.
But at every stage, Britain appears to have been out of step publicly with what the Americans were doing privately. Most concerning is the timing of Starmer’s suggestion on Tuesday that there was ‘no doubt in my mind’ that Trump would not bomb Iran. It came just as America was trying to convince Iran that they were serious about intervention, in a last effort to bring them to the negotiating table.
The Iran assault appears to be more evidence for my colleague Tim Shipman’s thesis in this week’s Spectator cover. Until now, foreign affairs have been a refuge from Keir Starmer’s domestic travails. But international events threaten to torch the government’s economic plans and widen fissures between Labour’s leadership and much of its parliamentary party. They now also risk exposing the PM as flat-footed and fumbling, adept at summitry but lacking judgement in a crisis.
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