Iran could tear the Tories to pieces

Washington

All you need to know about the effectiveness of Labour’s official attacks on David Cameron is that Siôn Simon’s toe-curling spoof video doesn’t look so bad in comparison. Labour has so far failed to land a killer blow on Cameron, suggesting that the next election will be a genuine contest. There is, though, one issue that could resuscitate the Tory Wars, and set Cameroon against Cameroon. The issue isn’t Europe, crime, immigration or even tax. It’s Iran. In Westminster, all attention might be on Iraq following General Sir Richard Dannatt’s ill-advised outburst. But the question of what to do about Iran’s nuclear programme is about to race on to the agenda. The North Korean nuclear test has concentrated minds in Washington about preventing a second member of the ‘axis of evil’ going nuclear. The megalomaniac Kim Jong-Il having his finger on the button is scary enough, but the thought of someone who openly prays for the apocalypse having a bomb doesn’t bear thinking about for many in Washington. As one prominent neoconservative told me, not to prevent Iran from acquiring a bomb would make the Bush presidency a complete failure. He argues that since it will be tricky for the President to deal with the problem at the end of his term, 2007 is the ‘natural time for him to act’. The British government must look with dread at the possibility of another confrontation in the Middle East. If the pressure is increased on Iran, it will probably step up its activities in southern Iraq; not for nothing do the Iranians refer to the Coalition forces in Iraq as hostages. However, this issue also offers Labour a chance to fracture the unity at the top of the Conservative party. If Tony Blair and — especially — Gordon Brown were to start sounding tough on Iran, they could bring out the tensions among the Cameroons over foreign policy.