‘Wannabe warmongers are so eager to rush Britain into a devastating conflict with no clear objectives and no strategy for how it ends’, Dame Emily Thornberry writes for the Sunday Mirror
Ill-judged, ill-advised, and illegal.
That’s what I think of joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran. And I am glad to see most of the public agree.
You cannot simply decide to attack another sovereign country and plunge the Middle East into chaos because you dislike the people in power. The Iranian regime is corrupt and grotesque. It has slaughtered tens of thousands of its own citizens and brutally repressed women and minorities.
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Even after Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria there still seem to be some people who have yet to learn that you can’t bomb a country into democracy. Instead, I fear the horrors we have already seen – like the bombing of a girls’ school in southern Iran – will be repeated again and again. Innocent people will die, with no end in sight and no plan over what comes next. There is only one thing worse than the misery of living in a totalitarian country and that is living in mayhem and anarchy. Without an agreed plan, I am worried sick that this is where Iran may end up.
Ignore the armchair generals. These wannabe warmongers are so eager to rush Britain into a devastating conflict with no clear objectives, no basis under international law, and no strategy for how it ends.
I am proud our Prime Minister has put Britain’s interests first. And I am profoundly disturbed by the readiness of the Tories and Reform to trample over the UN Charter, ignore legal protections Britain helped write, and live by the law of the jungle.
Sending our young men and women to war is a solemn decision. It should only ever be done to protect the security of Britain and its citizens, and it must always be the last resort. The Prime Minister made the right decision.
Right now, hundreds of thousands of British citizens are stranded in the region, frightened and desperate to get home. They are being targeted by a reckless regime with little left to lose. Iran has already attacked its neighbours and our partners indiscriminately. We must defend ourselves. Allowing our American allies to use our bases to intercept incoming Iranian missiles and drones, and doing so ourselves, is not escalation. It is self-defence. It is necessary. And it is lawful.
How one reacts at a time of war is a test for a opposition. They can play party politics or put our country’s interests first. International law is not a nice to have, we have to do what is right.
‘Failure by Thames Water’
On the 24th of February, a burst water main left 14,500 homes in my constituency out of water. The fire brigade had to rescue people in basement flats by dinghy.
It was just another example of failure by Thames Water in Islington South – the latest in a long history. Over the past 20 years I’ve lost count of the leaks, lost pressure, and floods. People flooded out of their homes spend months in temporary accommodation and businesses go bankrupt.
I am told that due to the age of our pipes, Islington is due to receive millions in water infrastructure investment to replace 60km of pipes. However, Thames Water cannot give precise timelines for when the work will be done. It is frustratingly typical.
‘Islington’s own Arsenal Women’
While we’re all cheering on Arsenal men as they race towards Premier League victory, give a thought on this International Women’s Day to England’s most successful women’s football team: Islington’s own Arsenal Women, champions of Europe are in the quarter final.
‘Social media companies turning blind eye to abuse’
Social media companies have for too long been able to get away with turning a blind eye to the abuse of their algorithms. Allowing their platforms to be used by hostile states like Russia to spread deliberate lies designed to undermine democracy in Britain and around the globe.
The Foreign Affairs Committee will tomorrow be hearing from X, TikTok and Meta, where we’ll be asking what they are doing to fix this problem. It will be live on YouTube.