Starmer’s foreign policy is about politics – and a warning for Australia
The Australian version of this story has not yet arrived at its international consequences. But the local political preconditions are assembling themselves with uncomfortable speed.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s resistance to US President Donald Trump over Iran looks like principled foreign policy. Look closer, and you’ll find a Labour Party fighting for its life at home and a warning for every establishment party that has outsourced its working-class base.
When Starmer refused to allow US forces to use British military bases for the initial strikes on Iran, the world’s foreign policy commentariat reached immediately for the familiar frame: NATO tensions, the fracturing of the special relationship, the emergence of a more independent European security posture. All of those things are real. None of them are the most important explanation for what Starmer did.
