'It’s a blatant contradiction, it’s a change of policy'
Ed Balls subjected Robert Jenrick to an intense grilling over Reform’s latest U-turn, taking him apart for flip-flopping their stance on the Iran war.
According to opinion polls, the British public have opposed the U.S. and Israel’s strikes on Iran, which has also seen Iran firing ballistic missiles at Israel and U.S. bases in the region as well as at Gulf states, while Prime Minister Keir Starmr has taken a different approach than Trump.
Starmer has made clear that he does ‘not believe in regime change from the skies’ and will not commit British troops to a conflict without a legal basis.
Farage has tried to exploit the situation, claiming at first that the UK “should do all we can to support” the US and Israeli strikes on the Middle East country.
However, in a major U-turn on Tuesday, Farage said: “If we can’t even defend Cyprus, let’s not get ourselves involved in another foreign war.”
Appearing on On ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Jenrick was questioned about the U-turn and said: “We’re actually entirely on the same page and have been all along.
“What we’re actually most concerned about are the British people here. Reform is a party for working people, it’s not a party for war.
“We’re worried about the impact this is going to have on people’s bills here in the UK. You’re seeing that already. People were hard up enough already before the war and we’ve got to be very concerned about what happens next.”
However, Balls told him: “The facts are clear. Nigel Farage said on March 2 ‘we should do all we can to support the operation. I make that perfectly, perfectly clear’.
“And you are now saying Reform is not the party of a war which Donald Trump started and Nigel Farage last week wanted the government to support. It’s a blatant contradiction, it’s a change of policy.”
Yet another Reform U-turn.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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