When Starmer speaks, the world listens - or at least that's how the PM imagines it

It was late into the night. The phone rang in the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem. Benjamin Netanyahu stretched out an arm to take the call. "Yes?" "Hi Bibi, it's Ali." "Ali who?" "Ali Khamenei... I just wondered whether you had heard the latest - Keir Starmer has made an intervention." "Not THE Keir Starmer?" "The very same. The prime minister of the United Kingdom. He has called on both of us to de-escalate hostilities. To look for a diplomatic solution. Not just that, but the British foreign secretary will be making a statement to the British parliament later on today to demand restraint. To bring the Middle East back from the edge."

- John Crace

It was late into the night. The phone rang in the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem. Benjamin Netanyahu stretched out an arm to take the call. "Yes?" "Hi Bibi, it's Ali." "Ali who?" "Ali Khamenei... I just wondered whether you had heard the latest - Keir Starmer has made an intervention." "Not THE Keir Starmer?" "The very same. The prime minister of the United Kingdom. He has called on both of us to de-escalate hostilities. To look for a diplomatic solution. Not just that, but the British foreign secretary will be making a statement to the British parliament later on today to demand restraint. To bring the Middle East back from the edge." "Wow," said Bibi. "That rather changes everything. When Keir speaks, the world listens." Or maybe that's not quite the way international diplomacy works in the Middle East. Right now, it doesn't appear that Israel or Iran are listening