𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Our PM is proud of his decision to keep us out of the Iran war. Some days, he talks of little else. That’s because for the first time, he’s hit upon a policy the public actually agrees on. No wonder he won’t shut up about it. Iran is a quagmire. US president Donald Trump didn’t ask if Britain thought it was a good idea and only came calling when things started to go wrong. And that was after insulting British soldiers who fought and died in Afghanistan. No wonder the British public isn’t keen to save his Middle East adventure.

It’s also clear we’re unfit to fight a proper war. After years of under-investment, including under the Tories, we struggle to put a single destroyer out to sea and can’t keep it there. This has to change fast. Otherwise we’re cannon fodder, or rather drone fodder, for Vladimir Putin. Warnings over Britain’s military have been growing for months. Yesterday, Lord George Robertson, a former NATO secretary general and Labour defence secretary, finally exploded.

He accused Starmer of “corrosive complacency” and warned our national safety is at risk. He’s right. The chancellor isn’t any better. We need at least £28billion more for defence and Reeves can’t find it. She’s chosen to splurge on public sector pay and welfare benefits, while our enemies build up their war machines. Starmer and Reeves need to show Iran, Russia and China we’re not to be messed with. Instead, they’ve picked a public fight with our closest ally.

Starmer and Reeves have taken on Donald Trump. Starmer says he’s “fed up” and has criticised the president’s conduct of the war. He’s also refused to back plans to blockade the Strait of Hormuz. He’ll only help restore shipping after the fighting stops. Which isn’t much use.

Yesterday, Reeves went further, declaring she’s “angry” at Trump’s “folly” in launching a war without a clear exit plan. I’m not sure Starmer and Reeves have an exit plan either. Trump may be erratic, but he’s still the president of our oldest ally. The US stood with Britain through two world wars, the Cold War, Afghanistan and Iraq. They didn’t always get it right, but we stood together.

Yet the Labour Party can’t stand him. Trump derangement syndrome runs deep on the left. They’ll side with literally anyone if it means opposing him, including the Ayatollahs. Starmer and Reeves are playing to their activist base as they try to head off challenge from Zack Polanski’s nutty Green Party. Britain will pay a high if the US pulls out of NATO.

Inevitably, Trump isn’t taking this quietly. In a Sky News interview, he complained that the UK was “not there” when asked for help and threatened to tear up the trade deal agreed last year, a rare Starmer success.

Trump also blasted Labour’s immigration and net zero policies, and criticised the shutdown of North Sea oil, in a swipe at Ed Miliband. He calls Starmer’s policies “insane”. He’s not alone in thinking that.

This is a serious problem for UK security. For all Trump’s faults, Britain still needs the US. Europe can’t stand up to Putin alone. It would be different if Reeves boosted defence spending, or Starmer showed urgency, or Miliband backed domestic oil and gas production. But they won’t stand up for our interests at all.

Instead, they’re picking fights with our strongest ally while leaving the UK defenceless. Starmer and Reeves will lose their phoney war with Trump. They haven’t got his firepower. And Britain will be helpless when the real one starts.