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Starmer vows to avoid ‘mistakes of Iraq’ that have haunted Labour for decades
Pippa CrerarPolitical editorPrime minister does not believe US has a plan beyond ‘shock and awe’ stage, as some MPs dread what lies ahead
Mon 2 Mar 2026 20.26 GMT
Tony Blair’s support for the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 has long loomed 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 on Monday 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 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 on Monday 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.
But after speaking to Trump at the weekend, Starmer relented on Sunday night. He now said the US military could use the bases for “specific and limited defensive purposes”.
It opened him up to charges of yet another U-turn. But the UK’s position on those initial strikes has not changed. Lord Hermer, the attorney-general, warned that allowing the US to launch attacks for the purpose of regime change – which Trump has himself argued for – would have been a potential breach of international law.
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Starmer vows to avoid ‘mistakes of Iraq’ that have haunted Labour for decades
Prime minister does not believe US has a plan beyond ‘shock and awe’ stage, as some MPs dread what lies ahead