Labour accuse Badenoch of scoring ‘cheap political points’ over Iran strikes | Kemi Badenoch
Labor accused Kemi Badenoch of scoring “cheap political points” after Conservative leader Keir Starmer said he was “too afraid” to take part in attacks on Iran.
Defense minister Al Carns said “serious policy” was needed in response to Badenoch’s speech at the party’s spring conference in which he criticized the prime minister’s handling of US-Israeli attacks on Iran a week ago.
Initially Starmer refused to allow the US to use UK RAF bases for attack and did not take part in initial military action against Iran, but later said the RAF would take part in defensive operations. An Iranian drone strike hit an aircraft hangar at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.
Badenoch told the Conservative Party’s spring conference in Harrogate, North Yorkshire: “At a time when Britain needs strong and decisive leadership, we have a prime minister who is too afraid to make the wrong decision, too afraid to make any decisions.
“Last week’s by-election spooked Labor. They watched the Greens campaign on sectarian voting lines. A tactic Labor has used for years is now being turned against them. And now Keir Starmer is too afraid to intervene outside for fear of offending a small section of the electorate.”
Carns, a former Royal Marine, said in response: “It is deeply irresponsible to try to score cheap political points over a serious security situation. This situation is above politics and requires calm collective decision-making, not hyperbole and hyperbole.”
“British soldiers are doing a fantastic job and no-one should question their determination or competence. Serious times call for serious policies, not to score political points at the expense of our armed forces, civil service or army. [Ministry of Defence] Staff doing a great job.”
Badenoch said Starmer lied when the US and Israel carried out airstrikes on Iran last weekend. Iran’s religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as other senior figures, were killed in the attacks.
In response, Iran attacked Israel and US allies in the Middle East, including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, prompting the evacuation of British citizens.
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian has since apologized to his Gulf neighbors and said he would no longer attack them unless their own country attacks Iran.
Badenoch denied uncritically calling for the UK to join the war but hit out at Starmer’s apparent inaction. He said: “Everyone remembers the mistakes of the Iraq war. No reasonable person would suggest that we drop bombs without thinking.
“But Keir Starmer spent days consulting with lawyers to muster the courage to say whose side he was on. Canada and Australia have the moral clarity to do so immediately and unequivocally.
“And even now our prime minister is on the fence. We are in this war whether Keir Starmer likes it or not.”
Badenoch, whose party finished fourth in the Gorton and Denton by-elections and found itself behind the Labor Party and Reform UK in national polls, also said that his party would reform the Mental Health Act and detain people who are thought to pose a risk to the public.
He referred to the case of Valdo Calocane, who killed three people in Nottingham in June 2023: “We will detain people who pose a risk to the public, we will keep them safe, we will keep the public safe. We cannot have dangerous men stabbing people in our towns and cities.”
The Conservative Party leader also said he would clamp down on antisocial behaviour, including introducing a new round of emergency justice community sentences for “low-level offences”. This will force criminals to repair the damage at the scene rather than going to the courts. Badenoch named graffiti as one area that could fall into this field.
