Tin Men

Keir Starmer said on Tuesday after the G7 that Trump had no plans for military engagement against Iran, although at that time it would have been obvious to him from his intelligence briefings that the UK would have been doing everything possible behind the scenes to facilitate whatever the US wished. His denials are about as hollow as those of past Labour ministers who claimed to have no knowledge of UK assistance in the matter of rendition a few years ago. But lo! A mere five days later Trump launches an attack on Iran and all our mealy-mouthed PM can say is that Iran should return to the negotiating table: “The situation in the Middle East remains volatile and stability in the region is a priority. We call on Iran to return to the negotiating table and reach a diplomatic solution to end this crisis.” (Daily Mirror) It doesn’t seem as if Israel has to do anything to end the crisis. Whatever you think of the Iranian regime (and I deplore it) it was Trump who originally pulled the plug on the Iranian nuclear deal and toughened sanctions. Why would Iranians trust this President to honour an agreement—indeed who can? Now Starmer’s solution is to acquiesce in Trump’s escalation and bring the Iranians to the table by bombing them.

The photo of Starmer picking up Trump’s spilt papers last week reminds me of a scene from the film Tin Men, where one of the aluminium cladding salesmen ‘accidentally’ drops a $10 dollar note on the floor in a potential customer’s living room. If the customer picks it up and hands it back to him, the salesman knows he has established his psychological advantage. It wouldn’t surprise me if Trump dropped his papers on purpose. I feel sure as a property developer he will have seen Tin Men.