Labour has accused Kemi Badenoch of scoring “cheap political points” after the Conservative leader said Sir Keir Starmer was “too scared” to join strikes on Iran. Defence minister Al Carns said “serious politics” was required in response to Badenoch’s speech at the Conservative spring conference in Harrogate, where she criticised the prime minister’s stance on the US-Israel strikes on Iran.
Starmer initially did not allow the US to use UK RAF bases for the attack, and did not take part in initial military action, but later said the RAF would take part in defensive operations. A strike by an Iranian drone hit an aircraft hangar at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. Badenoch said the prime minister was “too afraid to make any decision at all”, adding that last week’s byelection had “spooked the Labour party”.
In response, Carns said: “Trying to score cheap political points off the back of a serious security situation is deeply irresponsible. British troops are doing an amazing job and no one should be questioning their commitment or competency. Serious times require serious politics.”
Badenoch also criticised Starmer for equivocating when the US and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran last weekend, which killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other senior figures. Iran subsequently attacked Israel and US allies in the Middle East, including Qatar and the UAE, leading to an evacuation of British nationals. The Iranian president has since apologised to Gulf neighbours.
Badenoch denied calling for the UK to join the war uncritically, but said: “Keir Starmer spent days consulting lawyers, plucking up the courage to say whose side he was on. Canada and Australia have the moral clarity to do so immediately.”
Separately, Badenoch said her party would rewrite the Mental Health Act so people considered a risk to the public are detained, referencing the Nottingham attacks by Valdo Calocane. She also pledged to clamp down on antisocial behaviour with immediate justice community sentences for low-level offences like graffiti.
