'Tony Blair's invasion of Iraq is a warning to Keir Starmer on defence spending'
The Labour leader must bear his predecessors in mind over the Labour Party's policy on defence, an area has historically been a sticky issue for the Labour Party
Kevin Maguire is Associate Editor of the Mirror and a politics columnist. He is a frequent contributor to Good Morning Britain and other TV shows. He also writes a column for the New Statesman and earlier in his career was chief reporter for The Guardian. He is a Sunderland AFC supporter.
Opening the gates of hell 20 years ago, Tony Blair’s calamitous invasion of Iraq tethered to US hawks is a warning to Keir Starmer.
A Labour leader rattling Downing Street’s gates diplomatically cites Harold Wilson as the predecessor he most admires.
Wilson heroically resisted immense US pressure to deploy British forces alongside Americans in the disastrous Vietnam War.
Blair stupidly enlisted with Washington to launch the assault on the premise that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. He didn’t.
Iraq will be inscribed on Blair’s tombstone.
Labour ripped itself apart over the issue. Robin Cook and a handful of ministers nobly resigned and 121 Labour MPs voted against a war which, we should never forget, was also championed by the Tory leadership.
Starmer effectively banning any Labour discussion of arming Ukraine and Nato goes way beyond discipline imposed by Blair, as he distances himself from the Jeremy Corbyn era.
But it is fuelling fears about future foreign policy among Left-wing MPs who opposed Iraq.
One Labour veteran who did so in 2003 claimed it was ridiculous that MPs who were right then are gagged now and could be in the future if, for example, a US President demanded Britain join military action against China over Taiwan.
A close ally of Starmer insisted the top priority is victory at the general election and anything hinting of softness on defence, or could be portrayed as anti-patriotic, is the enemy of prosperity and social justice.
Iron Starmer won’t bend on this, I’m told, and anyway Ukraine isn’t Iraq.
Siding with Zelensky is hugely popular and the right call, obviously. Putin’s invasion was unprovoked.
The value of being a Wilson rather than a Blair in No 10, however, is a discussion worth publicly initiating if only to reassure voters.
