War talk. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump at the NATO Summit in The Hague, Netherlands, June 2025. Photo Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street / Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
British workers cannot leave it to Keir Starmer and his government to decide on what our country does about attacks by the US and Israel across the Middle East, and the response by Iran and others.
The US and Israel started the murderous wholesale bombing of Iran in February 2026. The Israeli government wages brutal bombing campaigns against Gaza, Iran and Lebanon. The Starmer government armed and backed all these assaults.
Worthless
Starmer poses as reluctant to support US military action and the blockade of Iranian ports. And he warns against Trump’s boastful threats to wipe out Iran. But where it matters, his words are worthless.
Starmer seems to have no independent view about the war, or anything else. While clutching desperately onto the USA’s coat-tails he tries to ingratiate himself with the EU.
On 13 March, he said that people are “really worried” about the war’s impact and “want to see us doing all we can to de-escalate.” But he sends warplanes, troops and air defence systems to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. And allows US forces to use British airbases for their attacks.
‘Starmer has never asked what the British people thought of the attack on Iran.’
Starmer has never asked what the British people thought of the Israeli-US attack on Iran. But even his ignorant and isolated government will be aware of the lack of support for it.
The lack of enthusiasm from people here in Britain is hardly surprising, given the history of lies over the threat from Iraq that led to the futile 2003 invasion. Also the futile 20-year Afghan war.
The most recent US-backed intervention against Iran took place in the 1980s. Backed by the British government, it sponsored the attack by Iraq, then led by Saddam Hussein, causing much destruction and loss of life. Yet Iran’s regime survived.
Real threats
The elected leaders of twelve trade unions issued a statement on 1 March condemning the war as illegal and opposing attacks on civilians. Yet they attributed US action to pressure from Israel. They promote the notion that the threat to British workers is from “the far right”. The real threats to the workers they represent are the British government and the US war.
Trump makes his own decisions, in what he considers the interests of the US finance capitalist class – and not those of any of the peoples of the region. That includes Israel: it may now be aligned with his aims, but may not be when talks begin to stop the war.
The US treats its supposed allies badly and capriciously – not just in the threat to occupy Greenland. Surely Britain should take Trump at his word, call his bluff, and pull away from NATO?
And that’s the problem. NATO membership means being at the beck and call of the USA. If we want Britain to have no part in this war, we have to expel US bases from our country and get out of NATO.
‘Imperialist meddling in the Middle East has never brought progress. Outside interventions do not produce democracy…’
Imperialist meddling in the Middle East has never brought progress. Outside interventions do not produce democracy. Those who supported the invasion of Iraq because of the rotten Saddam Hussein regime, will sooner or later support intervention to change the regime in Iran – even if they don’t support the current attack.
Britain must stop interfering in other sovereign nations, no matter how wicked they are supposed to be. Wherever they can workers must force the government to stop interfering in the Middle East, stop promoting the war, and stop arming and supporting any of the governments in the region.
Using the war
The ruling class here is using the war to demand more spending on “defence” – and to get us closer to the EU. They spend our much-needed resources in conflicts elsewhere, prioritising anywhere but Britain.
That won’t change by itself, even if Starmer departs. Workers want to strengthen Britain’s energy and food security and to defend our borders. It’s up to us to force that.
Empty calls for a ceasefire or an end to the war won’t make these good things happen. All that we can and must do is to stop letting US forces use our bases, and to distance ourselves from the US government, principally by calling for Britain to leave NATO.