Has Keir Starmer got himself into yet another pickle about what he really thinks?
The Labour leader and his frontbenchers are having to defend a leadership contest pledge he made that he now appears to have junked. They’re obviously used to this, but the latest pledge is on whether parliament should get a vote before military action. It was the fourth of Starmer’s ten pledges back in 2020, which read: ‘No more illegal wars. Introduce a Prevention of Military Intervention Act and put human rights at the heart of foreign policy. Review all UK arms sales and make us a force for international peace and justice.’ That legislation would mean a prime minister could only authorise military action if the Commons gave its consent to a lawful case that was put to it with a ‘viable objective’.
Yesterday Starmer explained that this was about committing British troops to combat, rather than last week’s bombing of the Houthis.
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