Keir Starmer risked being marginalised on the world stage last night after failing to back Donald Trump’s strikes against Iran.
As Tehran launched revenge attacks on US bases in the Middle East, the Prime Minister was last night accused of a ‘lack of moral clarity’ as he refused to take sides in the deepening conflict.
British citizens in Qatar were warned to ‘shelter in place’ last night as Iran fired missiles at America’s giant Al Udeid Air Base.
Iranian state media said the country’s ‘mighty and victorious’ response to the American assault on its nuclear facilities had begun. Tehran vowed to inflict ‘serious, unpredictable consequences’ on the US, but, in a sign that it fears further provoking President Trump, it is reported to have warned the Qataris in advance of the attack and focused on a base from which military aircraft had already been removed.
Sir Keir was last night facing growing questions about his refusal to support the action taken by America in striking Tehran’s nuclear facilities. Yesterday he insisted the UK was ‘absolutely focused on de-escalation in the Middle East’.
Critics warned that ministers had been left ‘paralysed’ over the issue after Attorney General Lord Hermer advised that joining Israel’s attacks on Iran, which began 11 days ago, would break international law.
Keir Starmer risked being marginalised on the world stage last night after failing to back Donald Trump’s strikes against Iran (file image)
Iran last night fired upon an American base in Qatar (Pictured, missile launch from Iran)
Images from yesterday show the exactitude of military attacks on the Isfahan nuclear faciities, which Trump claimed flattened the facility
Labour’s agonies intensified at the weekend following the audacious US assault on the Fordow facility at the heart of Iran’s nuclear programme.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy told MPs the issue of whether or not Britain supported the attack is not a ‘binary question’.
And the PM risked diplomatic marginalisation after Nato and Germany backed President Trump’s dramatic intervention.
Nato chief Mark Rutte said the US bombing raid did not break international law – and said that his ‘biggest fear’ was that Iran’s murderous regime would acquire a nuclear weapon.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said there was ‘no reason to criticise what America did at the weekend,’ adding: ‘Yes, it is not without risk. But leaving things as they were was not an option either.’
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds yesterday acknowledged that the PM’s influence on the escalating crisis in the Middle East is now ‘not great’ with the UK left on the sidelines of the ‘special relationship’.
Sir Keir emerged from talks with the US President last week to declare Mr Trump would not attack Iran – only to find himself proved wrong days later.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves also dodged the question as to whether she backed Washington yesterday.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves also dodged the question as to whether she backed Washington yesterday (file image)
Kemi Badenoch said it was ‘quite extraordinary’ that ministers were unable to side with the United States (file image)
Kemi Badenoch said it was ‘quite extraordinary’ that ministers were unable to side with the United States against a regime which MI5 says has attempted 20 plots on British soil in the past three years.
Mrs Badenoch said Labour’s attempt to sit on the fence showed ‘a complete absence of moral clarity and, in fact, moral courage’.
The Tory leader said she was clear that the US bombing raid was legal, after the shadow attorney general Lord Wolfson advised that aiding Israel was in line with international law because a key ally was facing a ‘genocidal threat’ from Iran’s nuclear programme.
During a BBC interview yesterday, Mr Lammy refused eight times to endorse Mr Trump’s actions, saying repeatedly that the UK was ‘not involved’.
In a separate interview with LBC, armed forces minister Luke Pollard failed on seven occasions to back the military action by the US, saying: ‘That’s not one for me to comment on.’
A spokesman for the PM said preventing Iran gaining a nuclear weapon would be a ‘good thing’.
But he added: ‘Our focus is on diplomacy. That is the priority and that is what every member of this government is working towards and that’s been the focus of the calls with international partners over the weekend. Iran should take the opportunity presented by the US to re-enter talks.’
Sir Keir raised eyebrows yesterday by leaving Mr Lammy to update MPs on the crisis. He missed his weekly session of Prime Minister’s Questions last week because of the G7 summit in Canada and is likely to miss it again tomorrow when he is due at the Nato summit.
Before and after pictures of Fordow underground complex, taken on June 20 and June 22
The satellite imagery shows the exact ‘strike area’, which the B-2 stealth bombers hit in Qom as well as possible bomb ‘entry points’
‘The strikes were a spectacular military success,’ Trump said in a late-night address from the White House
No 10 insisted the PM was ‘not avoiding Parliament’.
Sir Julian Lewis, former chairman of Parliament’s intelligence and security committee, said Israel and its allies had a right to defend the country from Iran.
He asked Mr Lammy: ‘How many times must a terrorist-funding, fanatical regime threaten to wipe another country from the face of the earth before a Government advised by Lord Hermer of Chagos acknowledge that military action to delay and degrade its nuclear weapons programme is both ethically and legally justifiable?’
Mr Lammy acknowledged that Iran’s uranium enrichment programme goes far beyond what is needed for civilian energy purposes. ‘Britain has long had concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme,’ he said. ‘A nuclear-armed Iran would endanger the immediate region and threaten the global community.’
Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin said that Lord Hermer’s advice had left ministers ‘paralysed and divided’.
Former security minister Tom Tugendhat said: ‘Labour and the Lib Dems agree they don’t want a nuclear Iran and demand only diplomacy – as though no one had thought of that for the past 20 years.
‘It’s bad enough to look weak. It’s worse to advertise irrelevance but the Government has just achieved it.’
Human rights lawyer Phillipe Sands, a friend of Lord Hermer and Sir Keir, last night said Israel’s attacks on Iran went ‘way beyond’ what could be justified under international law and that the US was ‘not directly threatened at all by Iran’.
