In a slightly unusual move, Britain’s Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has just taken to the airwaves in an attempt to clarify Britain’s position on the escalating war in the Middle East.
During his televised broadcast, he said that the UK was “working with allies” on a viable plan to open the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has essentially closed down to naval and commercial traffic by threatening attack by drones and mines.
Starmer is under pressure from Trump for not supporting the US more enthusiastically in the Iran war in general and the Strait of Hormuz conundrum specifically, suggesting that the so-called “special relationship” is being undermined.
Trump also said it would be a “bad day for Nato” if Western alliance partners did not join with the US in securing the route through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil and gas passes.
The UK is definitely already a Johnnie-Come-Lately to the conflict, with Starmer prevaricating over the use of British bases for US operations, then partially changing his position and saying they can be used for “defensive purposes”.
After much delay and prevarication, HMS Dragon has been dispatched to the eastern Mediterranean, where she is expected to be in position to help protect British bases on Cyprus later this week.
But some are already questioning whether protecting Cyprus is the best use of HMS Dragon when she eventually gets to the eastern Med. After all, Greek, French, Spanish, and Dutch ships will all be there already or close to arriving.
Others have suggested that perhaps we’ll see her do a sharp right turn and transit the Suez Canal and head for the Strait of Hormuz?
So far, the PM has been unwilling to commit British forces to assist in opening the Strait of Hormuz to international commercial shipping. Trump clearly sees this as a betrayal.
Keir Starmer's hokey-cokey move on Iran reveals who is secretly running his cabinet - Lt Col Stuart Crawford | Getty Images
Starmer seems to be still wedded to the idea that the UK should become involved on a defensive basis only, yet as any military man will tell you, preventing an enemy from attacking you via pre-emptive strikes is essentially a defensive measure – as the adage has it, “the best defence is attack”.
Shooting at the arrows rather than the archer, or indeed the arrow factory, is tantamount to treating the symptoms rather than the cause.
I also suspect that Starmer’s vacillating is at least partly because he is being bullied by members of his own Cabinet, a peacenik tendency which no doubt includes the likes of Miliband, Reeves, and others.
That he cannot prevail against them is an indication of how weak his leadership really is. Is the PM right? Well, the answer depends on whether we consider the UK to be directly affected by the Iran conflict.
There is no doubt in my mind that it is, whether it is through attacks on British personnel and bases or just via the economic impact of the conflict.
My view is that Britain has skin in the game and needs to be more directly involved. Starmer has been playing the Hokey Cokey - in, out, shake it all about - for long enough. Time to show decisive leadership or make way for someone else who will.
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