The left is rallying against war with Iran
Photo byAll eyes are on the White House, as the conflict between Iran and Israel enters its second week. Donald Trump has yet to commit to direct American involvement, telling reporters he would decide in the next two weeks. When he does, Keir Starmer will need to make a decision. Will the UK fall in behind its allies (the US and Israel) or will it keep its distance?
This is an extremely delicate situation. The UK would be on difficult legal ground if it did get directly involved militarily, as it has not been directly attacked, nor have any of its Nato allies. Equally, it would not be in the country's interests to see an Iranian escalation which threatened shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz, or the UK's military bases in Cyprus. Though Starmer has yet to make his position plain – he has repeated his assertion that this is a 'fast-moving situation' – whichever decision he takes is likely to lead to political friction. Inside the Labour Party, it already is.
Though the UK is not directly involved in the Israel-Iran conflict, the same criticisms which have plagued the government on the ongoing war in Gaza have been applied here. Britain continues to technically supply arms to Israel through the F45 fighter jet programme and its belated sanctioning of far-right members of the Israeli government (Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich received sanctions last week) has been widely criticised. Increased UK involvement in the Middle East could lead to an escalation of these criticisms from the left, both within and outside of the Labour party.
The potential for active UK involvement in the war in the Middle East is not likely to sit well with some Labour MPs. The scars of the Iraq war run deep among Labour politicians and party members. One backbench MP was clear: there are a lot of people in the Labour party who would not want to go to war in Iran. And while they said that while this is mostly concentrated among the old guard of MPs (those elected pre-2024), members of the new intake share their apprehension. The MP added that this concern could even stretch to the Cabinet, and that it would be better for Starmer to align the UK with its European partners and Canada, rather than remain at the beck-and-call of Trump and the US. Today Emmanuel Macron announced a European proposal to find a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. 'Britain has to have a recalibration of who they're dealing with,' the MP said.
How Starmer deals with this conflict is also being watched closely by the leftward coalition which is forming outside the party. Among this broad extra-parliamentary group there is agreement that the UK must not be led into this conflict to serve US interests. Today (21 June), the Palestine Solidarity Campaign will stage a march from Russell Square to Westminster, with speakers including the Independent (former Labour) MP Zarah Sultana and Paloma Faith. Jeremy Corbyn and Zack Polanski will also be in attendance. This group is of course, dead against any direct UK involvement in the conflict.
Corbyn told me, 'The last Labour government made the mistake of following the US into a catastrophic war and refusing to build its own, independent, ethical foreign policy. Human beings abroad paid the price.' The former Labour leader, who recently brought a 10-minute rule bill calling for an independent inquiry into the UK's involvement in Gaza, called on the government 'to learn the lessons of the past, otherwise it will be remembered for the less secure and less peaceful world it has helped to create'.
His sentiments were similarly echoed by the Green Party deputy leader, and candidate for party leadership, Zack Polanski, who said: 'Starmer claims to support de-escalation – yet continues to back a government committing genocide in Gaza, arms its military, shares intelligence, and now refuses to rule out dragging us into another catastrophic war.' Polanski, who has said he thinks the UK should withdraw from Nato, similarly pointed to the lessons of history on this. He added: 'We saw in 2003 what happens when a prime minister chooses loyalty to an American president over the will of the British people. They must learn from that shameful chapter in history.'
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Privately, though, there is concern from those who are sympathetic to Gaza on the left that this escalation could only lead to more polarisation. Prior to Israel's strikes on Iran – and Iran's retaliation – it felt as though opinion on Gaza was on the cusp of a turning point, with more MPs feeling able to speak out about what they saw as indiscriminate Israeli aggression. This new stage of the conflict opens up a new attack-line. As Corbyn, Polanski, or other pro-Gaza MPs and politicians call for the end of arms sales to Israel, the worry is that critics will fire back that these MPs would leave Israel defenceless from Iran.
None of this puts the Prime Minister in an easy position. Starmer has already received extensive criticism for being slow to act on sanctions and arms sales. If he commits to more UK involvement in this growing conflict, it will open him up to even further attacks from the left (and could even run the risk of more Labour losses to the Gaza independents or an equivalent organised party in 2029). Memories of Iraq, and the political damage that terrible conflict wrought on the Labour party have certainly not dissipated; the left are keen that no one forgets.
[See also: The dangerous new neoconservatism]
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