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Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has defended the UK government’s decision not to engage in initial strikes on Iran despite fresh criticism from Donald Trump, saying lessons need to be learned from the Iraq war.
The US President attacked Britain in a Truth Social post overnight, accusing the UK of trying to “get involved in wars we have already won” and saying British aircraft carriers were not needed after the Ministry of Defense began preparations for a possible deployment.
Cooper told Sky News that people “need to focus on the content, not the social media posts”, as he refuted claims Britain’s special relationship with the US was deteriorating.
“We disagreed on a number of issues,” he said, “Keir Starmer obviously has a very different style of doing politics, and I think that kind of calm, cool-headed approach to these big, serious international issues… is right”.
Starmer has faced criticism from both left and right over his handling of the war, even though his position is broadly in line with the British public and a large group of his own MPs, who have been hurt by previous military interventions in the Middle East, particularly the 2003 Iraq War.
According to a recent poll by research company YouGov, only 8 percent of Britons supported Britain’s direct involvement in the war.
Zac Polanski, leader of the leftist Green Party, which defeated Labor in the Gorton and Denton by-election last week, has urged Starmer to condemn the conflict and stop the US using British airports to launch attacks.
Meanwhile, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage have attacked Starmer’s refusal to let Trump use those bases for initial strikes against Iran. He has also faced criticism for a two-week delay in deploying British warships to the area.
HMS Prince of Wales, one of Britain’s two aircraft carriers, is being prepared to depart within the next five days, although no final decision has been made on whether it will be deployed, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Former Labor Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair is reported to have joined in the criticism of Starmer’s decision not to join the US during the initial attack on Iran at a private event on Friday, saying that “if they are your allies and they are an essential cornerstone of your security… you had better be there when they want you”.
A person close to Blair said that, in reference to the US request to use UK bases for refueling, the former Prime Minister told the program that “It’s not like we did in Iraq, sending thousands of British troops, so I think you have to make an argument to the public”.
Cooper said he “disagrees” with Blair’s reported comments, adding that Britain needs to “learn some lessons from what went wrong in Iraq”. Blair’s decision to involve Britain in the war with Iraq is widely seen as one of the most damaging decisions of his time as Prime Minister.
Cooper said, “There are some people in politics who think we should always agree with the US no matter what (the circumstances). There are other people in politics who think we should never deal with the US again no matter what the circumstances. I don’t think either of those positions are in Britain’s national interest.”
Ministers argue that it was not in Britain’s national interests to get involved in early attacks on Iran by the US and Israel, but that it was right to defend partner countries in the Gulf when they were attacked, including allowing the use of UK military bases.
In an op-ed for the Mirror on Saturday, Starmer wrote: “While the opposition parties seek to weaken Britain on the world stage, my Labor government is focused on protecting the British people at home and abroad.”
