Starmer looked out of place in the mountains with Sky's Beth Rigby
Sir Keir Starmer was doing an interview with Beth Rigby in the lush mountain landscape of Canada. Hardly a man who evokes the sweeping grandeur of nature, seeing the Prime Minister surrounded by mountains and pines was odd. It looked a little like someone had mistakenly cast a chartered accountant in the Sound of Music. What percentage is his approval rating? Seventeen going on sixteen of course.
Seeing the Prime Minister surrounded by mountains and pines was odd
Rigby asked whether the Prime Minister had any idea what President Trump was doing about the Middle East that was so important that he had to leave the G7 early.
'I actually sat next to the President at that meeting,' came the non sequitur reply. I have confidence that there is probably a 15 per cent chance that The Donald actually doesn't know who Starmer is. One can imagine the conversation on the home trip on Air Force One: 'Hey, lil' Marco, why'd they sit me next to that brylcreamed Limey who sounds like he has a cold?'
Next came the inevitable Grooming Gangs question. Hardly one of the PM's favourite things; he gave a weird look that was supposed to say 'earnest' but actually said 'constipated'. Rigby hammered home; he really didn't think he owed anyone an apology, did he? There followed a self justificatory list of his achievements. Somewhere in his youth or childhood, he must have done something good, that sort of thing.
After this touching interlude was over he claimed that he 'tried to remain courteous at all times' – which will come as news to any of the women who have ever asked him a question he didn't like in the House – before launching into a direct attack on Kemi Badenoch. At the end of this, Rigby gave him a sort of pitying smile, like one might deliver at the sight of a dropped bag of shopping or a weeping clown.
Rigby went further: did there need to be prosecutions of those in institutions who had covered this up? The hills were alive with the sound of bluster.
'There must be accountability…there must be no stone unturned…but I'm not going to say here X, Y, Z'. He might as well have added 'Do-Re-Mi' for all the effect it would have had on his meaning. I have read things on the back of lavatory cubicles or scrawled on railway underpasses which convey more meaning than this string of platitudes.
Rigby asked again if he wanted to see more prosecutions and got the same answer. Interviewing the present government is no easy task: you can Climb Every Mountain, ford every stream: and still at the end of it you have a pile of Edelscheiss.
Rigby ended on a 'most proud moment and biggest regret', as if it was an interview with Smash Hits! magazine. Apparently our Lonely Goatherd hadn't 'told his story as best he could'. You can say that again. Or yodel it, it'd be just as compelling and coherent.
So it was we bid 'So Long, Farewell' to the Prime Minister. Unlike the Sound of Music there is no happy ending to this tale: instead of staying in his alpine G7 wonderland, our very own Maria is back on Wednesday.
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South Wales Guardian
3 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
Sir Mark Rowley ‘shocked' at planned protest in support of Palestine Action
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner said a protest supporting the 'organised extremist criminal group' was due to take place in Westminster on Monday. He said until the group is proscribed the force has 'no power in law' to prevent the protest taking place, adding that breaches of the law would be 'dealt with robustly'. The act of vandalism committed at RAF Brize Norton is disgraceful. Our Armed Forces represent the very best of Britain and put their lives on the line for us every day. It is our responsibility to support those who defend us. — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) June 20, 2025 The Home Secretary will update Parliament on Monday on the Government's plan to ban Palestine Action following the group's vandalism of two planes at an RAF base. Yvette Cooper will provide MPs with more details on the move to proscribe the group, making it a criminal offence to belong to or support it, in a written ministerial statement. The decision comes after the group posted footage online showing two people inside the base at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. The clip shows one person riding an electric scooter up to an Airbus Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker and appearing to spray paint into its jet engine. The incident is being investigated by counter-terror police. In a statement on Sunday, Sir Mark said: 'I'm sure many people will be as shocked and frustrated as I am to see a protest taking place tomorrow in support of Palestine Action. 'This is an organised extremist criminal group, whose proscription as terrorists is being actively considered. 'Members are alleged to have caused millions of pounds of criminal damage, assaulted a police officer with a sledgehammer and last week claimed responsibility for breaking into an airbase and damaging aircraft. Multiple members of the group are awaiting trial accused of serious offences. 'The right to protest is essential and we will always defend it, but actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as legitimate protest. 'Thousands of people attend protests of a different character every week without clashing with the law or with the police. The criminal charges faced by Palestine Action members, in contrast, represent a form of extremism that I believe the overwhelming majority of the public rejects. 'We have laid out to Government the operational basis on which to consider proscribing this group. If that happens we will be determined to target those who continue to act in its name and those who show support for it. 'Until then we have no power in law to prevent tomorrow's protest taking place. We do, however, have the power to impose conditions on it to prevent disorder, damage, and serious disruption to the community, including to Parliament, to elected representatives moving around Westminster and to ordinary Londoners. 'Breaches of the law will be dealt with robustly.' A spokesperson for Palestine Action previously accused the UK of failing to meet its obligation to prevent or punish genocide. The spokesperson said: 'When our Government fails to uphold their moral and legal obligations, it is the responsibility of ordinary citizens to take direct action. The terrorists are the ones committing a genocide, not those who break the tools used to commit it.' Cabinet minister Jonathan Reynolds said he could not rule out the possibility of a foreign power being behind Palestine Action. The Business and Trade Secretary told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: 'It is extremely concerning they gained access to that base and the Defence Secretary is doing an immediate review of how that happened. 'The actions that they undertook at Brize Norton were also completely unacceptable and it's not the first. It's the fourth attack by that group on a key piece of UK defence infrastructure.' The Home Secretary has the power to proscribe an organisation under the Terrorism Act of 2000 if she believes it is 'concerned in terrorism'. Don't forget about Gaza. While the world is distracted, almost 400 people – queueing for food – have been gunned down by Israeli forces. You don't accidentally kill 400 people waiting for aid, they have been deliberately massacred. The UK must end all arms sales to Israel now. — Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) June 19, 2025 Proscription will require Ms Cooper to lay an order in Parliament, which must then be debated and approved by both MPs and peers. Some 81 organisations have been proscribed under the 2000 Act, including Islamist terrorist groups such as Hamas and al Qaida, far-right groups such as National Action, and Russian private military company the Wagner Group. Former justice secretary Lord Charlie Falconer said vandalising aircraft at RAF Brize Norton would not solely provide legal justification for proscribing the group. Asked whether the group's actions were commensurate with proscription, Lord Falconer told Sky News's Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: 'I am not aware of what Palestine Action has done beyond the painting of things on the planes in Brize Norton, they may have done other things I didn't know. 'But generally, that sort of demonstration wouldn't justify proscription so there must be something else that I don't know about.' Former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf said the Government was 'abusing' anti-terror laws against pro-Palestine activists, as tens of thousands of protesters marched in London on Saturday. Belonging to or expressing support for a proscribed organisation, along with a number of other actions, are criminal offences carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Home Secretary @YvetteCooperMP is banning Palestine Action. We are pleased that the Home Secretary has listened to our representations over the last week. Nobody should be surprised that those who vandalised Jewish premises with impunity have now been emboldened to sabotage RAF… — Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) June 20, 2025 The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) welcomed the news that Ms Cooper intended to proscribe Palestine Action, saying: 'Nobody should be surprised that those who vandalised Jewish premises with impunity have now been emboldened to sabotage RAF jets.' Former home secretary Suella Braverman also said it was 'absolutely the correct decision'. A pro-Palestine protester at Saturday's march in central London said it was 'absolutely horrendous' that the Government was preparing to ban Palestine Action. Artist Hannah Woodhouse, 61, told the PA news agency: 'Counter-terrorism measures, it seems, are being used against non-violent peace protesters. 'The peace activists are trying to do the Government's job, which is to disarm Israel.' Palestine Action has staged a series of demonstrations in recent months, including spraying the London offices of Allianz Insurance with red paint over its alleged links to Israeli defence company Elbit, and vandalising Donald Trump's Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire.
Powys County Times
3 hours ago
- Powys County Times
Sir Mark Rowley ‘shocked' at planned protest in support of Palestine Action
Sir Mark Rowley said he was 'shocked and frustrated' at a planned protest in support of Palestine Action, as the Government moves to ban the group. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner said a protest supporting the 'organised extremist criminal group' was due to take place in Westminster on Monday. He said until the group is proscribed the force has 'no power in law' to prevent the protest taking place, adding that breaches of the law would be 'dealt with robustly'. The act of vandalism committed at RAF Brize Norton is disgraceful. Our Armed Forces represent the very best of Britain and put their lives on the line for us every day. It is our responsibility to support those who defend us. — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) June 20, 2025 The Home Secretary will update Parliament on Monday on the Government's plan to ban Palestine Action following the group's vandalism of two planes at an RAF base. Yvette Cooper will provide MPs with more details on the move to proscribe the group, making it a criminal offence to belong to or support it, in a written ministerial statement. The decision comes after the group posted footage online showing two people inside the base at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. The clip shows one person riding an electric scooter up to an Airbus Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker and appearing to spray paint into its jet engine. The incident is being investigated by counter-terror police. In a statement on Sunday, Sir Mark said: 'I'm sure many people will be as shocked and frustrated as I am to see a protest taking place tomorrow in support of Palestine Action. 'This is an organised extremist criminal group, whose proscription as terrorists is being actively considered. 'Members are alleged to have caused millions of pounds of criminal damage, assaulted a police officer with a sledgehammer and last week claimed responsibility for breaking into an airbase and damaging aircraft. Multiple members of the group are awaiting trial accused of serious offences. 'The right to protest is essential and we will always defend it, but actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as legitimate protest. 'Thousands of people attend protests of a different character every week without clashing with the law or with the police. The criminal charges faced by Palestine Action members, in contrast, represent a form of extremism that I believe the overwhelming majority of the public rejects. 'We have laid out to Government the operational basis on which to consider proscribing this group. If that happens we will be determined to target those who continue to act in its name and those who show support for it. 'Until then we have no power in law to prevent tomorrow's protest taking place. We do, however, have the power to impose conditions on it to prevent disorder, damage, and serious disruption to the community, including to Parliament, to elected representatives moving around Westminster and to ordinary Londoners. 'Breaches of the law will be dealt with robustly.' A spokesperson for Palestine Action previously accused the UK of failing to meet its obligation to prevent or punish genocide. The spokesperson said: 'When our Government fails to uphold their moral and legal obligations, it is the responsibility of ordinary citizens to take direct action. The terrorists are the ones committing a genocide, not those who break the tools used to commit it.' Cabinet minister Jonathan Reynolds said he could not rule out the possibility of a foreign power being behind Palestine Action. The Business and Trade Secretary told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: 'It is extremely concerning they gained access to that base and the Defence Secretary is doing an immediate review of how that happened. 'The actions that they undertook at Brize Norton were also completely unacceptable and it's not the first. It's the fourth attack by that group on a key piece of UK defence infrastructure.' The Home Secretary has the power to proscribe an organisation under the Terrorism Act of 2000 if she believes it is 'concerned in terrorism'. Don't forget about Gaza. While the world is distracted, almost 400 people – queueing for food – have been gunned down by Israeli forces. You don't accidentally kill 400 people waiting for aid, they have been deliberately massacred. The UK must end all arms sales to Israel now. — Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) June 19, 2025 Proscription will require Ms Cooper to lay an order in Parliament, which must then be debated and approved by both MPs and peers. Some 81 organisations have been proscribed under the 2000 Act, including Islamist terrorist groups such as Hamas and al Qaida, far-right groups such as National Action, and Russian private military company the Wagner Group. Former justice secretary Lord Charlie Falconer said vandalising aircraft at RAF Brize Norton would not solely provide legal justification for proscribing the group. Asked whether the group's actions were commensurate with proscription, Lord Falconer told Sky News's Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: 'I am not aware of what Palestine Action has done beyond the painting of things on the planes in Brize Norton, they may have done other things I didn't know. 'But generally, that sort of demonstration wouldn't justify proscription so there must be something else that I don't know about.' Former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf said the Government was 'abusing' anti-terror laws against pro-Palestine activists, as tens of thousands of protesters marched in London on Saturday. Belonging to or expressing support for a proscribed organisation, along with a number of other actions, are criminal offences carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Home Secretary @YvetteCooperMP is banning Palestine Action. We are pleased that the Home Secretary has listened to our representations over the last week. Nobody should be surprised that those who vandalised Jewish premises with impunity have now been emboldened to sabotage RAF… — Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) June 20, 2025 The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) welcomed the news that Ms Cooper intended to proscribe Palestine Action, saying: 'Nobody should be surprised that those who vandalised Jewish premises with impunity have now been emboldened to sabotage RAF jets.' Former home secretary Suella Braverman also said it was 'absolutely the correct decision'. A pro-Palestine protester at Saturday's march in central London said it was 'absolutely horrendous' that the Government was preparing to ban Palestine Action. Artist Hannah Woodhouse, 61, told the PA news agency: 'Counter-terrorism measures, it seems, are being used against non-violent peace protesters. 'The peace activists are trying to do the Government's job, which is to disarm Israel.'
Times
3 hours ago
- Times
Starmer left blindsided as the US goes it alone on Iran attack
The decision by the Americans to strike Iran unilaterally, without any request of assistance from the UK or the use of their joint Diego Garcia airbase, will give Sir Keir Starmer only a small moment of relief. While it leaves Britain out of the conflict for now and is likely to spare it from the immediate threat of retaliation from Tehran, it exposes the limit to which the prime minister and his top ministers can influence or even second-guess President Trump's actions. UK government officials admit that Trump's comments and actions in the past week have put a significant strain on the 'special relationship'. Starmer, who spent the weekend at Chequers, refused to explicitly say whether he supported Trump's decision to bomb Iran as he warned of the 'risk of escalation'. Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary sent out to speak for the government, made clear that while Britain welcomed the setback to Iran's nuclear capabilities, it had wanted a diplomatic means to those ends. • Can Iran still build nuclear weapons after the US bombing? UK government officials said that the US did not make a request to use Diego Garcia as a staging post for its airstrikes on Iran. Trump would have required Starmer's approval to use the military base in the Indian Ocean because it is under the UK's sovereign control. If it had granted that permission, the UK would effectively become a participant in the war. A UK government source said: 'Diego Garcia is a joint military base, so it's not surprising that they used their own personnel and air base given it was unilateral action.' It may have been that the use of Diego Garcia was simply not necessary, given the bombers were able to refuel mid-air and fly to Iran without stopping. Pausing at Diego Garcia could have ruined the element of surprise. However, there is also the possibility that the UK would not have approved and some believe the US made this calculation in deciding to go it alone. Lord Hermer, the attorney-general, had explicitly advised that joining the US would be a potential breach of international law because it would stray beyond the definition of self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter. The article allows for the use of force if it is deemed necessary and proportionate and an attack is 'imminent'. Although Starmer has avoided the invidious decision of whether to join the conflict, there will be serious doubts about the degree of influence he holds over the US. On Friday afternoon his aides were confident they had bought more time to drag Iran back to the negotiating table. They believed they had a crucial window after Trump announced that he would make a decision whether to bomb Iran 'within the next two weeks'. But at the same time, American B-2 Spirit stealth bombers were being readied at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri for one of the boldest missions in recent US military history and barely 24 hours later Starmer was told shortly before the operation was carried out. • Who are Iran's allies — and will any help after the US strikes? The fact that Trump went ahead with the strikes will be seen as embarrassing for Starmer. Just days earlier, he had sat with Trump at the G7 summit in Canada. He said afterwards that 'there's nothing the president said that suggests that he's about to get involved in this conflict'. Government officials have admitted it was a miscalculation to expect Trump to hold off. 'We didn't even get the short window that we thought we might get. They were already moving their assets,' one said. They said closer attention should have been paid to the wording of Trump's comments, pointing out that the president and his press secretary had said he would decide 'within' two weeks rather than 'in' two weeks. The writing was already on the wall on Friday afternoon after David Lammy and his French and German counterparts met the Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi as part of efforts to get Iran back to the negotiating table. Lammy had flown from the White House where he had been briefed on the American position by Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, and Steve Witkoff, Trump's Middle East envoy. In his meeting with Araghchi, Lammy hammered home the American position that Iran must stop its attacks on Israel and return to the negotiating table over its nuclear programme. His Iranian counterpart was forthright in stating that Tehran was unwilling to return to talks until the US had called on Israel to stop its attacks. John Healey, the defence secretary, has increased protection for the armed forces and UK personnel in the region to its highest level ever as British forces brace for retaliatory strikes from Iran. Healey has not ruled out sending in more fighter jets and refuelling aircraft. On Sunday Lammy was back on the phone to Araghchi, reiterating the UK's opposition to Iran ever acquiring a nuclear weapon. But Britain's role as the direct interlocutor between the US and Iran has been made immeasurably harder by the American airstrikes. Trust in diplomatic talks has broken down on both sides and there are concerns that the UK's voice in the conflict is decreasing in relevance. Starmer will be reeling from yet another week of uncertainty that has left him blindsided by Trump's unpredictability. The decisions he takes on how closely he aligns Britain with Trump's actions could prove critical for his premiership and national security.
