Gulf allies are unimpressed with Starmer’s plodding response to the Iran war, particularly with the failure to send necessary defensive resources to the region in the opening days of the conflict. The quotes from diplomatic and military sources speaking to Politico:
“No. 10 was determined to downplay any risk or perception of us getting involved and now the government is playing catch-up. And that means we are showing up late.”
A Gulf diplomat said there were “a lot of phone calls”, but very little “serious support.”
“We have the Prime Minister and defence secretary talking about ‘preparing the nation for war’ on a running basis, which is ironic, as we and our allies ended up not deploying deterrent force and taking a week to deploy a major warship to defend Cyprus in good time to show our strong defensive intentions.”
HMS Middleton, Britain’s only mine-hunting vessel, was withdrawn from the Middle East at the start of March – just before the US and Israeli strikes began. Starmer’s dithering is torching the UK’s alliances at record speed…
Number 10 has claimed there was “no requirement” for Keir Starmer to formally interview Peter Mandelson before appointing him as ambassador to the US. The Times revealed last night that Starmer delegated the job entirely to Morgan McSweeney and Matthew Doyle. Don’t worry, the adults are back in the room…
The Downing Street spokesman told the Lobby briefing of press hacks this morning that the “full process that was in place at the time was followed“, and the PM has since “apologised to Epstein’s victims“. When asked if it might have been a good idea to at least chat to him for a second regardless of the ‘process’, the spokesman repeated the same line almost verbatim…
Featuring Hilary Benn staring at the floor wishing the ground would swallow him up…
Starmer on his first call with Donald Trump in eight days, following the “no Winston Churchill” spectacle:
“…The discussion with our US counterparts is happening at all levels, all of the time, every single day. That’s the nature of the relationship.”
Asked about his refusal to allow the US to use British bases to strike Iran, before U-turning to permit “defensive” action, Starmer said:
“Those decisions about what’s in Britain’s best interests are decisions for the Prime Minister of Britain. That’s how I’ve approached all of the questions, and all the decisions that I’ve had to make. It is really important. That’s a fundamental principle, that it is the UK Prime Minister… that the UK Prime Minister would make the decisions, using our values, our principles, in the best interests of our country. And it’s really important that we, are very, very clear about that principle.”
The ‘Trump Whisperer’ era has withered and died…
Starmer, red as a beetroot, with no explanation for the delayed Defence Investment Plan. This was supposed to have been published last autumn. Have they lost it down the back of the sofa?
A bruised Starmer insisted this morning:
“I will also fight against the extremes in politics, on the Right and the Left, parties who want to tear our country apart. The Labour Party is only the party that can unite our country and our communities and we will line up together in that fight against the extremes of the Left and the Right for the values that we believe in.”
Meanwhile the vultures are circling…
Starmer said to Robert Peston this afternoon:
“I’m fed up with the fact that families across the country see their bills go up and down on energy businesses bills go up and down on energy because of the actions of Putin or Trump across the world.”