Keir Starmer declared 'unfit to be Prime Minister' by Robert Jenrick as he swipes at 'weak' Iran stance

Addressing MPs on Monday, Sir Keir affirmed the UK would "not be joining" the US in their strikes against Iran.

In a thinly veiled swipe at the PM, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth accused "traditional allies" of "clutching pearls" and failing to take action.

Delivering his verdict on Sir Keir's performance in the Commons, Mr Jenrick told GB News: "I thought it was a very weak performance. He does not come across like a leader, he just seems to be constantly vacillating, he doesn't know what he thinks.

"He's worried primarily about a strict adherence to international law rather than what is in our national interest and how can we best support our friends and allies around the world."

He swiped: "He's more interested in taking the advice of Lord Hermer, his legal mate, than he is about doing what's necessary to protect our troops and their families on our base in Cyprus."

Making clear "no one should mourn the death of the Ayatollah" and the demise of his regime, the Reform MP stated: "This was an evil regime in Iran, but more importantly for us here, it's also been a regime that has attacked our own interests.

"Its proxies have fired missiles at British flagged vessels out at sea. It's attacked people here in the United Kingdom, getting spies and agents over on small boats. And they've supplied some of the weapons, like the IEDs that led to the deaths of British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. So it's demise or pressure on that regime is a good thing.

"But what we want is a Prime Minister who actually knows what he thinks, is leading, is a reliable ally on the international stage and is protecting our interests, and we just don't see that from Keir Starmer at the moment."

Admitting the last Tory Government was "naive" in its approach to Iran, Mr Jenrick said the Labour Government should "immediately" proscribe the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

He explained: "The truth is this Government and frankly the last Conservative Government, of which I was a part, were hopelessly naive when it came to Iran and its influence here on our soil. In the United Kingdom, for example, both Governments have failed to prescribe to ban the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, an organisation that does have roots in the UK.

"That should be done immediately, so that our security services and police can arrest those individuals with links to it here, can freeze its bank account, stop it having activities here."

Calling on them to be "deported", he told GB News: "They need to be closed down, those individuals removed from the country and an absolute zero tolerance attitude to anyone with links to this regime."

"If they are here in the UK, if they're threatening our citizens, then they should be deported immediately. That's what I want to see Keir Starmer say, that he's going to turn the tide on all this malign influence and have a crackdown now to protect British citizens."

Responding to remarks made by US President Donald Trump, where he said he is "sad to see that the relationship with Britain is obviously not what it was", Mr Jenrick highlighted how "incredibly important" the US-UK relationship is.

Mr Jenrick said: "The UK and the US has stood side by side for generations. It's an incredibly important relationship, and so much of our defence and security depends on the United States. You see how weak our armed forces, sadly, are today as a result of mismanagement and underinvestment.

"So for us now to be perceived to be an unreliable friend and ally to the United States is concerning. But what I'm most worried about is not what foreign powers like the United States, even if there are friends, think about the UK, it's how we're doing ourselves to protect our own interests, that is what your GB News viewers will be most concerned about."

He concluded: "And if we've got our own base sovereign territory over in Cyprus being attacked by Iranian drones, and you've got a Prime Minister who still won't do things, who won't take action, was vacillating, worried about the legal advice that his human rights lawyer mate was sending to him.

"Rather than protecting those troops, their families on that base, then that makes me feel this man just isn't fit to be Prime Minister, isn't suited to the task of being Prime Minister, at a time when we're facing such challenges as we are at the moment."

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