Spectre of Iraq

PM wary of history repeating

- Pippa Crerar Political editor

Tony Blair supported the US president George W Bush over the Iraq war in 2003; left, a US Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet launches in the Middle East on Sunday

(LUKE FRAZZA/AFP/GETTY/US NEWS/AP)

Tony Blair's support for the US invasion of Iraq has long hung like a spectre over the Labour party.

It was present in 2013 when Ed Miliband as opposition leader voted to block UK military action against the Syrian regime.

And it was there again yesterday when Keir Starmer assured MPs that the government remembered the “mistakes of Iraq” and would always operate on a “lawful basis” and with a “viable thought-through plan” to the crisis erupting in the Middle East.

The implication from the prime minister was clear: he does not think that the initial US and Israeli strikes against Iran were either legal or considered. “This government does not believe in regime change from the skies,” he told the Commons.

It was a significant moment. Starmer has spent much of his premiership carefully dancing around Donald Trump - acting (as he sees it) in the UK's national interest by maintaining close relations with the US president but taking a lot of flak for it at home.

After Trump told the Daily Telegraph yesterday that it had taken the UK “far too long” to allow the US to use its bases to carry out strikes on Iran, the innately cautious prime minister emphasised that the decision was “deliberate” and he stood by it.

The UK had initially denied the US permission to conduct strikes aimed at regime change from British bases including Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford, citing international law.