Kemi Badenoch says UK is ‘in this war whether Starmer likes it or not’
Kemi Badenoch has said the Prime Minister is “too scared to make foreign interventions” and that the UK is “in this war whether Keir Starmer likes it or not”.
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Speaking at the Conservative Party’s spring conference in Harrogate, she said the Prime Minister was “sitting on the fence” when it comes to the conflict in the Middle East.
The Tory leader said last week’s by-election won by the Greens has “spooked” the Labour Party.
“Now Keir Starmer is too scared to make foreign interventions for fear of upsetting a tiny section of that electorate.
“Everyone remembers the mistakes of the Iraq War, nobody sensible is suggesting that we should drop bombs without a second thought.
“But Keir Starmer spent days consulting lawyers, plucking up the courage to say whose side he was on.
“Canada and Australia had the moral clarity to do so immediately and unequivocally, even now our prime minister is sitting on the fence. We are in this war, whether Keir Starmer likes it or not.”
Sir Keir has defended his decision not to permit America to use British bases in the opening assault against the Tehran regime, suggesting it could have been unlawful and lacked a “viable, thought-through plan”.
He granted permission on Sunday for the US to use RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to strike defensively against Iranian missile sites as the conflict spirals.
It comes after a row erupted over Mrs Badenoch’s suggestion that the UK military had been “just hanging around” and not taking the necessary action in the Middle East.
Defence Secretary John Healey said the remark “insults the men and women of our armed forces” and that she should apologise.Recent polling suggests that the most common view among the British public is that the UK’s stance in the conflict should be purely defensive.
Almost half – 46% – of people in a survey by YouGov between Wednesday and Thursday said this position came closest to their view of what orders the UK military should be given.However, most – 52% – also believe that Sir Keir is handling the UK’s relationship with Mr Trump badly, the data suggests, and 47% feel the same about his management of Britain’s response to the war.
Responding to Mrs Badenoch’s words, armed forces minister Al Carns said political point-scoring off the back of a serious security situation was “deeply irresponsible”.“