Yvette Cooper hits back at Trump over UK’s lack of involvement in Iran: ‘We have to learn the lessons from Iraq’
Yvette Cooper has hit out at critics of Sir Keir Starmer’s approach to the war in Iran and said the UK must ensure it “learns” from the Iraq war.
The Foreign Secretary defended the prime minister after both Donald Trump and Sir Tony Blair criticized Sir Keir’s decision not to immediately join US and Israeli offensive strikes against Iran last weekend.
according to Daily MailThe former Labor prime minister, who backed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, said Britain “should have supported America from the very beginning” at an event on Friday.
Responding to the comments on Sunday, Ms Cooper said she “disagreed” with Sir Tony’s stance.
“There are some people in politics who think we should always agree with the United States,” he said. Sky News.
“There are other people in the political world who think we should never take action with the US again, whatever the circumstances. I don’t think any of these positions are in the UK’s national interest and it is Keir Starmer’s responsibility to act in the UK’s national interest for British citizens.”
Asked if he had called Sir Tony a “poodle”, he said: “I think the key is to make sure we learn the lessons from some of the things that went wrong in Iraq, and I think that’s exactly what Keir Starmer has done.”
The US administration has rejected claims that the current war against Iran could lead to similar devastation caused by the Iraq war.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters this week: “This is not Iraq, this is not forever.”
Trump has repeatedly criticized Sir Keir for the UK’s approach to the Middle East conflict, writing on Truth Social on Saturday that the US does not need to “get involved in wars after we have already won them”.
Earlier this week he said the prime minister was “not Churchill” and had “destroyed their relationship” over the Iran and Chagos Islands deal.
Britain did not participate in the initial attacks on Iran, but has since allowed US forces to use British bases to launch defensive attacks.
Sir Keir has repeatedly said he “stands by” the decision and on Monday openly criticized the US president’s bombing campaign, telling parliament that his government “does not believe in regime change from the sky”.
Ms Cooper also backed the prime minister’s dealings with Mr Trump on Sunday, saying it was not the UK Government’s job to “outsource our foreign policy” after renewed criticism.
He said the Prime Minister would not resort to “rhetoric or hyperbole” and would focus on “calm, steady decision-making”, adding that people should “focus on the substance, not social media posts”.
“The president of the United States needs to decide what is in the national interest of the United States, and it is for him to do that,” he told the BBC’s Sunday program with Laura Kuenssberg.
“But it is our job as a UK Government to decide what is in the UK’s national interest, and this does not mean simply dealing with other countries or outsourcing our foreign policy to other countries.”
He said Britain should “make the decisions ourselves” and that the Prime Minister “has the right to defend Britain and Britain’s interests”.
Asked if Britain was at war, he said: “We provide defensive support in the event of a conflict, and I think that’s the way to describe it.”
