“We will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”
The latest late-night broadside from Donald Trump has torn another strip off the tattered remains of the special relationship Sir Keir Starmer has spent the past year trying to cultivate.
Politics Live: ‘PM learning lessons from what went wrong in Iraq’
The US president’s scornful tirade against both the PM – and indeed, the whole of the UK (“our once Great Ally”) – makes it very clear he’s not going to forgive Starmer for refusing permission for American planes to use British military bases in their initial attack on Iran.
As breakups go, it’s a bitter one, especially given the diplomatic effort and political capital Starmer has expended to develop his reputation as the so-called Trump whisperer.
The Conservatives were already attacking the PM for failing to do more to support the US and Israel; now shadow home secretary Chris Philp claims he’s “severely damaged the special relationship”.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been in Mar-a-Lago this weekend, surely hammering home his critique of the government with the Trump administration.
Politics latest: PM learning lessons from what went wrong in Iraq, foreign sec suggests, after Blair criticism
Kemi Badenoch accused of insulting armed forces for saying RAF ‘hanging around’ in the Middle East
Kemi Badenoch’s hawkish approach to Iran war may not be wise
Now it’s emerged that former Labour prime minister Sir Tony Blair also believes Starmer is wrong not to have backed America from the start of the conflict, telling attendees at a private event, “if they are your ally and they are an indispensable cornerstone for your security…you had better show up”.
But for many in the Labour party – and beyond – Blair is the very last person who should be giving advice on following American presidents into wars in the Middle East.
Iran war latest: New supreme leader chosen
His criticism of Starmer is therefore something of a godsend for the current PM – as it highlights the contrast between his own cautious approach to Blair’s hugely controversial decision to join George W Bush’s disastrous invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Speaking on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper was quick to make the comparison between “people in politics who think we should always agree with the US, whatever” and Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to act “in the UK’s national interest”.
“I think the point is to make sure that actually we learn the lessons from some of the things that went wrong in Iraq,” she said. “I think that is exactly what Keir Starmer has done.”
Read more:
US v Iran – how did we get here?
Trump bruised by old ally turning its back
The PM has made his own support for the principles of international law very clear this week – as well as his explicit opposition to Trump’s stated goal of “regime change from the skies”.
The government claims the fundamentals of the British-American alliance are unchanged by this diplomatic spat. But Trump is clearly a dangerous adversary- and who knows how far-reaching the implications of this less-than-special relationship could be in terms of tariffs, security cooperation, or the Chagos deal.
👉 Listen to Electoral Dysfunction on your podcast app 👈
For now, Starmer’s decision to take a stand against the controversial president is winning him some plaudits among his own MPs – and perhaps with the public too. Recent polling suggests a slight uptick in his own popularity since the start of the Iran war – and only one in five voters supports the idea of Britain joining air strikes against the regime.
It’s been a long time since Starmer has found himself so firmly on the side of public opinion.
