Priti Patel did not have kind words to say about the prime minister.
Keir Starmer’s response to the attack on Iran was slammed on GB News (Image: Getty)
Keir Starmer’s response to the joint US-Israel attack on Iran was torn apart by Conservative MP Priti Patel. The shadow foreign secretary appeared on GB News with presenter Camilla Tominey, where she accused the government of “sitting on the fence” regarding the strikes. The US and Israel launched attacks on Iran which killed the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. US President Donald Trump said the aim of the operation was to “ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon”.
Iran retaliated by firing ballistic missiles and drones at targets across Israel, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait and Iraq. Issuing a statement in response, Starmer said that whilst the United Kingdom had no involvement in the initial strikes, British military forces are now “in the sky” as part of a coordinated response and defence against Iran.
The statement has been slammed by Patel, who described it as “utterly feeble” in a scathing rant on GB News.
She told Tominey: “Yet again, we’ve seen the British government sit on the fence at what is such a significant time, not just for our country but for the world and the Middle East.
“Let’s not forget, we have British nationals in the Middle East, the Gulf states in particular, the GCC, we have British bases and we have service personnel, our men and women there, and it is right that we do everything possible to protect them and defend them.
“I thought Keir Starmer‘s statement yesterday was utterly feeble. Once again, as he did in the Twelve-day war last year, we saw Britain and Keir Starmer sit on the fence.
Priti Patel described Starmer’s response as “utterly feeble” (Image: GB News)
Asked how the prime minister should have responded instead, Patel said: “He should have been much more robust in terms of the fact that Iran is a barbaric and brutal regime. It represses its own citizens. system. It’s a threat to our own country
“We have issues here with Iranian proxies. Iran threatens our country through cyber attacks and also our allies and British nationals elsewhere around the world.”
“The government would have been informed about the imminent threats to our allies and potentially to our country.”
She added: “We should have been much more robust, taking a really firm stance in offering up our support to the United States regarding this particular action and the strikes that were taken yesterday.”
