Yvette Cooper has rejected Tony Blair’s assertion that the UK ought to have supported Donald Trump’s preliminary airstrikes on Iran, saying Britain had to “learn the lessons” of errors made in Iraq.
At a non-public lunch occasion on Friday, the previous Labour prime minister mentioned Keir Starmer “should have backed America from the very beginning” and let the Trump administration use British airbases, including: “If they are your ally and they are an indispensable cornerstone for your security … you had better show up when they want you to.”
Blair’s intervention comes as Trump intensifies his criticism of Starmer over the dearth of quick UK help for the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, saying on social media: “We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!” Asked about Blair’s feedback, Cooper instructed Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News: “I just disagree.”
The overseas secretary added: “There are some people in politics who think that we should always agree with the US whatever. There are other people in politics who think we should never take action with the US again whatever the circumstances. I don’t think either of those positions is in the UK national interest, and it is the responsibility for Keir Starmer to act in the UK’s national interest for British citizens.”
Asked if she was calling Blair “a poodle”, she mentioned: “I think the point is to make sure that, actually, we learn the lessons from some of the things that went wrong in Iraq, and I think that is exactly what Keir Starmer has done.”
Blair, who has been fiercely criticised over the previous twenty years for his determination to be a part of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, made the feedback at a non-public Jewish News occasion on Friday, including that he had already made his criticism clear to the federal government. He instructed these on the occasion that alliances have been examined “when it’s hard”, saying the bases have been wanted for refuelling and including that the battle was “not like Vietnam”, the Mail on Sunday reported.
“It’s not like the Iraq campaign [where] we sent thousands of British troops. So I just think you’ve got to make the argument to the public about this,” he mentioned. “You’ve got to say to them the American relationship matters. It matters particularly today. It’s not a question of whether it’s this president or that president.”
A spokesperson for Blair mentioned the feedback got here at a non-public occasion and weren’t meant to be made public.
Responding to repeated stinging criticism of Starmer by Trump previously week – which has included the US president saying on Saturday that Starmer’s help was not needed in Iran, and earlier in the week that the prime minister was “not Winston Churchill” – Cooper mentioned the UK had to “take decisions ourselves” and act in its nationwide curiosity.
She instructed the BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “It’s for the US president to decide what he thinks is in the US national interest, and that’s for him to do. But it is our job as the UK government to decide what’s in the UK national interest, and that doesn’t mean simply agreeing with other countries or outsourcing our foreign policy to other countries.”
Her feedback got here because the Iranian ambassador in London warned the UK to be “very careful” about turning into additional concerned within the war. Britain has given permission for the US to use British bases for “defensive strikes” on Iranian amenities, however has not taken half in any direct assaults.
Seyed Ali Mousavi instructed Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg his nation would have a “right to self-defence” if the UK immediately joined US-Israeli assaults on Iran. He mentioned the British authorities and different nations ought to be “very delicate, very careful” of their actions, including he believed the UK had discovered classes from the Iraq war.
