Bob Seely: Starmer’s standing by his principles and defending them, but he’s confused and not defending us
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.
Dr Robert Seely MBE is author of ‘The New Total War’, ConservativeHome’s foreign affairs columnist and a former Conservative MP.
Exercising power is about making choices, and Sir Kier Starmer’s painful evasions over Iran show what happens when you fail to make the right ones, or even clear ones.
At the heart of Labour’s confusion is the friction between left-wing principles and realpolitik. The trouble is, its principles are questionable whilst its realpolitik is parochial – aimed not at the great questions of war and peace, but at party unity and electoral survivability; party before country.
The result is a mess where Britain’s national interests come last. We appear weak. Churchill’s quote about our leadership in the 1930s: “Decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift,” seems apt. US President Donald Trump had his own, biting judgement. “This is not Winston Churchill we’re dealing with,” is destined to become one of the memorable quotes of the century, and will likely feature heavily and repeatedly in Starmer’s political obituaries.
First, legality; Keir Starmer and his Attorney General, Lord Hermer, a human rights lawyer, think the war is illegal. They initially blocked any bombing from UK-based bases before wriggling, agreeing that missions from US bases on our soil could be used for ‘defensive’ strikes. In taking this course of action, they have angered President Donald Trump, and now, it seems, Gulf allies too.
Aside from the attacks on our Cyprus bases, which is now clearly a cause for war, what grates is the interpretation of international law that damages open societies at the expense of evil ones.
Lord Wolfson, shadow Attorney-General, responded to the Hermer/Starmer position in an excellent post on Twitter/X last weekend. It’s worth a read. “Too many international lawyers,” he wrote, “serenely promote an analysis which ultimately protects tyrants.”
He has a point. The Starmer/Hermer interpretation of international law treats democracies such as Israel as little more than tethered goats waiting to be attacked, or only allow military action when it is too late. Go back to the 7 October 2023 when Hamas attacked; Israel would have only been able to defend itself once the murder of men, women and children had started. If they had pre-emptively struck to save Israeli lives, Starmer and Hermer would no doubt have found Israel in breach of international law.
It’s part of a wider corruption of law in this country that seems to protect the rights of the wretched over the virtuous. Even Friedrich Merz, Chancellor of Germany – Germany, for heaven’s sake – now says that Iran shouldn’t be protected by international law. Hermer and Starmer, and the legal left in Britian, are part of a generation of international …
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.
Dr Robert Seely MBE is author of ‘The New Total War’, ConservativeHome’s foreign affairs columnist and a former Conservative MP.
Exercising power is about making choices, and Sir Kier Starmer’s painful evasions over Iran show what happens when you fail to make the right ones, or even clear ones.
At the heart of Labour’s confusion is the friction between left-wing principles and realpolitik. The trouble is, its principles are questionable whilst its realpolitik is parochial – aimed not at the great questions of war and peace, but at party unity and electoral survivability; party before country.
The result is a mess where Britain’s national interests come last. We appear weak. Churchill’s quote about our leadership in the 1930s: “Decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift,” seems apt. US President Donald Trump had his own, biting judgement. “This is not Winston Churchill we’re dealing with,” is destined to become one of the memorable quotes of the century, and will likely feature heavily and repeatedly in Starmer’s political obituaries.
First, legality; Keir Starmer and his Attorney General, Lord Hermer, a human rights lawyer, think the war is illegal. They initially blocked any bombing from UK-based bases before wriggling, agreeing that missions from US bases on our soil could be used for ‘defensive’ strikes. In taking this course of action, they have angered President Donald Trump, and now, it seems, Gulf allies too.
Aside from the attacks on our Cyprus bases, which is now clearly a cause for war, what grates is the interpretation of international law that damages open societies at the expense of evil ones.
Lord Wolfson, shadow Attorney-General, responded to the Hermer/Starmer position in an excellent post on Twitter/X last weekend. It’s worth a read. “Too many international lawyers,” he wrote, “serenely promote an analysis which ultimately protects tyrants.”
He has a point. The Starmer/Hermer interpretation of international law treats democracies such as Israel as little more than tethered goats waiting to be attacked, or only allow military action when it is too late. Go back to the 7 October 2023 when Hamas attacked; Israel would have only been able to defend itself once the murder of men, women and children had started. If they had pre-emptively struck to save Israeli lives, Starmer and Hermer would no doubt have found Israel in breach of international law.
It’s part of a wider corruption of law in this country that seems to protect the rights of the wretched over the virtuous. Even Friedrich Merz, Chancellor of Germany – Germany, for heaven’s sake – now says that Iran shouldn’t be protected by international law. Hermer and Starmer, and the legal left in Britian, are part of a generation of international …
Bob Seely: Starmer’s standing by his principles and defending them, but he’s confused and not defending us
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.
Dr Robert Seely MBE is author of ‘The New Total War’, ConservativeHome’s foreign affairs columnist and a former Conservative MP.
Exercising power is about making choices, and Sir Kier Starmer’s painful evasions over Iran show what happens when you fail to make the right ones, or even clear ones.
At the heart of Labour’s confusion is the friction between left-wing principles and realpolitik. The trouble is, its principles are questionable whilst its realpolitik is parochial – aimed not at the great questions of war and peace, but at party unity and electoral survivability; party before country.
The result is a mess where Britain’s national interests come last. We appear weak. Churchill’s quote about our leadership in the 1930s: “Decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift,” seems apt. US President Donald Trump had his own, biting judgement. “This is not Winston Churchill we’re dealing with,” is destined to become one of the memorable quotes of the century, and will likely feature heavily and repeatedly in Starmer’s political obituaries.
First, legality; Keir Starmer and his Attorney General, Lord Hermer, a human rights lawyer, think the war is illegal. They initially blocked any bombing from UK-based bases before wriggling, agreeing that missions from US bases on our soil could be used for ‘defensive’ strikes. In taking this course of action, they have angered President Donald Trump, and now, it seems, Gulf allies too.
Aside from the attacks on our Cyprus bases, which is now clearly a cause for war, what grates is the interpretation of international law that damages open societies at the expense of evil ones.
Lord Wolfson, shadow Attorney-General, responded to the Hermer/Starmer position in an excellent post on Twitter/X last weekend. It’s worth a read. “Too many international lawyers,” he wrote, “serenely promote an analysis which ultimately protects tyrants.”
He has a point. The Starmer/Hermer interpretation of international law treats democracies such as Israel as little more than tethered goats waiting to be attacked, or only allow military action when it is too late. Go back to the 7 October 2023 when Hamas attacked; Israel would have only been able to defend itself once the murder of men, women and children had started. If they had pre-emptively struck to save Israeli lives, Starmer and Hermer would no doubt have found Israel in breach of international law.
It’s part of a wider corruption of law in this country that seems to protect the rights of the wretched over the virtuous. Even Friedrich Merz, Chancellor of Germany – Germany, for heaven’s sake – now says that Iran shouldn’t be protected by international law. Hermer and Starmer, and the legal left in Britian, are part of a generation of international …
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