We Conservatives stand shoulder to shoulder with Trump on Iran – this is a time for true leadership
3 March 2026: Donald Trump rebukes Keir Starmer during a meeting with Chancellor Friedrich Merz | Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI Credit: UPI/Alamy Live News
4 min read
Keir Starmer is dodging the fight and hiding behind the cover of international law
The Middle East faces a critical juncture. The coming days and weeks could decide the fate of tens of millions of people for generations. The figurehead of the barbaric Iranian regime, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is dead, killed as part of joint US-Israeli strikes. That seemed inconceivable – until it happened.
Khamenei’s successors are hitting out at their neighbours in retaliation. Iran has launched strikes on numerous uninvolved countries and there has even been a drone strike on a British base on Cyprus. It all comes after the Islamic Republic killed tens of thousands of its own civilians as they bravely fought for freedom from their decades-long oppression.
At times like these, strong leaders act to defend their countries and stand with their allies. Yet Keir Starmer is doing the opposite. He is dodging the fight, refusing to support the US and Israel even verbally, and hiding behind the cover of international law as an excuse for doing nothing at all.
When confronted with Iranian aggression, Starmer’s response has been to dither and delay. His weakness pervades every aspect of his government, and foreign policy is no different.
Starmer has recently said that Iran attempted 20 potentially lethal attacks on our soil in the past year alone. In fact, Iran is the world leader in state-sponsored terrorism. It commits barbarities against foreign civilians, through terrorist surrogates: Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis. All these groups threaten our interests at home and abroad.
Iran has also continually sought to develop a nuclear weapon – a weapon that would be an existential threat to this country.
Yet in the face of all this, the Prime Minister still cannot tell us whether he backs the US and Israel’s action or not. He is using international law as his justification, not because it is morally right to do so but because it allows him to avoid making any kind of decision.
Yet in the face of all this, the Prime Minister still cannot tell us whether he backs the US and Israel’s action or not
His refusal to take a side has resulted in him constraining our allies. He recently refused to let the US use our joint base on Diego Garcia to launch strikes on Iran. He then conducted a partial U-turn, granting permission specifically for ‘defensive’ strikes on Iranian missile infrastructure, but nothing more.
We all knew Iran would use long-distance missiles indiscriminately against its neighbours. Yet Starmer blocked the Americans from using the base until after the missiles started landing, and even then gave only a limited approval for use.
Last week President Trump said he was “very disappointed” at Starmer’s original decision and his delay in granting permission. That is no surprise.
Starmer’s stance on Diego Garcia and other bases provoked Trump to denounce the appalling Chagos surrender. The Chagos deal undoubtedly undermines our national security and that of our allies, not to mention damaging the special relationship. In his desire to honour a non-binding judgment of an international court whose jurisdiction we do not accept, Starmer is prepared to put all that on the line, handing over British sovereign territory and £35bn of British taxpayers’ money for the privilege.
This gets to the wider point: as the shadow attorney general has asked, why is it that under this Prime Minister, international law always seems to be at odds with our country’s interests?
True leaders bed their decisions in political reality. They do not opt for inaction, leave the big calls to others, and seek justification for their failure via international bodies.
There is another way. Under Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party is standing shoulder- to-shoulder with our allies in the face of one of the most appalling regimes on the planet.
The Iranian people and the world must see this tyranny consigned to where it belongs – the ash heap of history. In the face of the modern world’s axis of authoritarianism, equivocation and prevarication simply won’t do. Britain needs leadership.
Priti Patel is Conservative MP for Witham and shadow foreign secretary
