'Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch for wanting to 'dive in with both feet into the war without thinking through the consequences'.
Keir Starmer has said that the US-Israei war with Iran is ‘not our war’ as he launched Labour’s election campaign, hitting out at Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch for wanting to ‘dive in with both feet into the war without thinking through the consequences’.
The Prime Minister made the comments at Labour’s local election launch campaign in Wolverhampton, as he hit out at Reform and the Tories for blindly following Trump in wanting to join the war with Iran, with no end in sight.
Opinion polls have shown that the British public are opposed to the war in Iran, with nearly half (46%) believe the UK military position should be purely defensive, tasked with shooting down drones and defending civilian areas and British military facilities such as an RAF base on Cyprus.
The Prime Minister said: “It’s really important I reiterate where I stand and where this government stands because this is not our war. And we are not going to be dragged into it.”
He added: “Yes of course we will defend British lives and interests in the region – we’ll stand by our allies in the Gulf region. But we’re not going to get dragged into it. That’s my values, that my principles and that’s what we’ve applied to our decisions whatever the pressure and whoever it’s coming from.
“But what a contrast – if you took Kemi Badenoch or Nigel Farage. What did they want to do? They wanted to go straight in with both feet into the war without thinking through the consequences. They are in opposition at the moment – maybe that doesn’t matter very much.
“But it’s terrible judgement because taking your country is the single most important decision a Prime Minister could ever take. If they had been in government we’d be in a war with no plan.”
Both Farage and Badenoch were enthusiastic supporters of the war but seem to have backtracked lately after realising the Trump administration had no clear plan and that the British public don’t back the war.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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