Labour has not worked out what line to take on the USA’s blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. In fact Labour does not appear to know how it is operating…
Early education minister Olivia Bailey was asked on Sky News if the British government agreed with the US strategy:
“So the US’s ambition as is ours is for the Strait of Hormuz to be open.”
Bailey was asked six subsequent times if the government agreed. Eventually it got to this:
As laid out the US blockade strategy ‘interdicts’ vessels that have paid Iran for passage through its own territorial waters. It remains the case that the only ships passing through the strait – with the exception of very few – are taking this route. The US Navy is clearing the international passage in the Strait and has said it will stop vessels that have co-operated with Iran to pass through its own waters. Labour is just stonewalling until it can come up with a line that looks clever once more facts on the ground are known – Starmer’s golden strategy…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”