Sir Keir Starmer was condemned by senior US and Israeli figures yesterday for his initial refusal to back air strikes on Iran.
A Republican US senator branded it ‘pathetic’, while an Israeli minister said the UK was now a ‘nation in decline’ due to the Prime Minister’s early inaction.
It came after Defence Secretary John Healey refused to say the military action was legal, despite Canada and Australia backing it.
As strikes continued to rain down across the Middle East yesterday, Sir Keir held calls with the region’s leaders – including the king of Bahrain, sultan of Oman, crown prince of Kuwait, king of Jordan and president of Cyprus – to express ‘solidarity’ in the face of ‘dangerous Iranian escalation’.
But opposition MPs branded him ‘feeble’ for failing to take sides, while former security chiefs criticised him for ‘government by international lawyers’.
Pressure had grown on Sir Keir over his refusal to back the US and Israeli strikes after the Defence Secretary repeatedly refused to state the UK’s position.
Asked six times by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg if the UK supported the strikes or believed they were legal, Mr Healey declined to give a direct answer.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer pictured holding a series of calls with international leaders in his office in 10 Downing Street yesterday
‘Britain played no part in the strikes on Iran,’ he said.
‘We share, however, the primary aim of all allies in the region and the US that Iran should never have a nuclear weapon.’
He later added: ‘It is for the US to set out the legal basis of the action that it took.’ However, Mark Carney, prime minister of Canada, said he supported ‘the US action’ to ‘prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon’ and continuing to threaten ‘international peace and security’.
And Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese used similar language, while Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, also supported the action.
Meanwhile the UK, in a joint statement with France and Germany, condemned Iran’s retaliation and urged Tehran to return to the negotiating table, but did not openly back the strikes.
Lindsey Graham, a Republican US senator, said the UK was ‘pathetic’ for refusing to take sides.
‘To our European allies: you have gone pathetically soft and lost your zeal for confronting evil apparently unless it’s on your front porch,’ he said.
‘It is so sad to see Western democracies lose their passion for justice and a sense of right and wrong.’
He added that the leaders were wrong to suggest the US ‘negotiate with religious Nazis’ and observed: ‘How far Western Europe has fallen.’
British Defence Secretary John Healey arrives at 10 Downing Street ahead of Sir Keir Starmer’s statement yesterday
Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister of diaspora, said: ‘I am deeply saddened to see this great nation in decline. I hope soon we will see the old British lion awaken and fight first and foremost for the British Isles, and immediately thereafter against the forces of darkness that seek to bring devastation upon the entire West.’
Donald Trump said last month that he was considering using the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, in the Chagos Islands, or RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire to launch strikes on Iran.
But Sir Keir is said to have warned Mr Trump that the UK would not allow the use of British facilities for any pre-emptive military action.
His refusal to allow the US to use UK military bases reportedly came after a legal opinion – drafted for Sir Keir by Attorney General Lord Hermer – emphasised the primacy of international law.
Mr Healey’s remarks were seized on by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch who tweeted: ‘Britain’s Defence Secretary can’t tell us if our Government supports the strikes on Iran. We are not being governed.’
Mrs Badenoch said that she stood with the US and Israel as they ‘take on the threat’ of Iran.
And Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel described Labour’s position as ‘feeble’ as she accused ministers of ‘sitting on the fence’.
