By Dan Haley | @cymroofbarri89

Billy Jameson’s comprehensive article meticulously covered the current US-Israeli/Iran conflict and some of its global ramifications, but what of the response back at home? To say that it has been revealing would be an understatement.

Britain has traditionally been at the beck and call of the so-called “special relationship” with the US, our closest ally. Much of our foreign policy, and indeed our domestic policy, has effectively been aligned since at least the Reagan-Thatcher era.

Back then, there was a clear ideological kinship against the massive, existential threat of the Soviet Union. The neoliberal West won the argument, signalling what Francis Fukuyama called The End of History.

History often repeats itself, as do the same mistakes. Trump’s America, seemingly at Israel’s own behest (according to statements from Secretary of State Marco Rubio), has now committed to repeating the destructive Bush-Blair mistake in pursuing regime change in the Middle East.

But what of Britain’s response this time? It may be pleasantly surprising, but it has also revealed the wicked face of our own warmongering political elites.

“This Is Not Churchill We’re Dealing With”

Keir Starmer refused to participate in the initial wave of US-Israeli strikes on Iran, though he stopped short of condemning it. The first wave included the bombing of a primary school in Minab, killing 168 people, mostly schoolgirls. It is now likely that a US Tomahawk missile was responsible, according to a preliminary inquiry.

Starmer said that British forces were instead focused on defensive positions across the region, employing fighter jets, air defence missiles, and other additional assets to protect the hundreds of thousands of British citizens and personnel. When the strikes began on Saturday, British jets were already in the skies flying over Cyprus and other areas, intercepting drones.

Starmer also stated that he had given the US permission to use British bases to conduct defensive operations to take out Iranian drones. The destroyer HMS Dragon has also been dispatched to the Mediterranean to bolster defences.

In the House of Commons, the Prime Minister stated that his government does not believe in “regime change from the skies”. Mercifully, the main priority was simply getting British people away from danger.

However, our refusal to join the US and Israel in their war of aggression has been met with much criticism, particularly from the US president. Donald Trump was “not happy” at Britain’s lack of response, and quipped, “this is not Churchill we’re dealing with”. What a relief.

“It is very sad to see that the relationship is obviously not what it was,” he added. A rather abusive relationship by all accounts, one that means we should be merely subservient to America and its interests at all times.

The so-called “special relationship” is becoming increasingly frayed over this war, and perhaps that is a good thing.

Trump mocked speculation over the use of UK aircraft carriers, which Keir Starmer dithered on sending to the Mediterranean last week. On his Truth Social he declared:

“The United Kingdom, our once great ally, maybe the greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East. That's OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don't need them any longer. But we will remember. We don’t need people that join wars after we’ve already won.”

The Prime Minister ultimately declined to dispatch either carrier to the Middle East, although HMS Dragon is still expected to deploy to the region.

Not only are Trump’s comments delusional, they are also historically illiterate. Declaring victory in what could be a deeply protracted and destructive conflict is narcissism of the highest order.

Trump speaks as if he has marched through the gates of Berlin when, in reality, the enemy approaches Kyiv.

Spain went one step further, being one of the few outliers in Europe to publicly condemn the attacks by the US and Israel, and refused to let them use their bases in Spain to bomb Iran. The Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez accused the US of playing “Russian roulette with the destiny of millions”. I believe we should also follow Spain’s example.

We are still allowing the US to use our bases to refuel and rearm. I would go one step further by repatriating all US bases in Britain while this administration is in power, as per the policy of the British Democrats. They are clearly and actively hostile to anyone who refuses to bend the knee to its demands.

Will The Real Warmongers Please Stand Up?

Nigel Farage, along with many senior Reform figures, including Richard Tice and Suella Braverman, was quick to bang the war drum. In a press conference, Farage stated that RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus was under attack by Iranian drones. This claim has since been dismissed by the Ministry of Defence. He said this war was “very different” from the Iraq decision because Iran poses a “threat to the whole of the Middle East, to the world and to us”. In fact, the same thing was said about Iraq, whose fictional WMDs should have been of no concern at the time either.

Farage went on to say that he had “felt very strongly” about this for many years, and that the world would be better off without “these ghastly people” in regard to the Iranian regime. He added that “we simply need to accept that we are part of this with the Americans, with the Israelis”.

Mass deportations are unthinkable to someone like Farage, and we should not “alienate Islam”, yet throwing our servicemen and women out there to bomb not only Iranians but other Muslims in service of Zionist causes is somehow perfectly fine. He has since taken a rather dramatic U-turn when it comes to the conflict, further proving the man has no principles of his own and merely moves with the prevailing wind like the political weather vane he is and always has been.

Richard Tice stated on X that “Reform can be trusted to always stand rock with Israel”. He said in an interview that Britain would be helping the US and Israel in “any way they saw appropriate”. He declared in a speech outside Whitehall that the people we should thank are the “leadership of the United States and the leadership of Israel”. With an Israeli flag flying behind him he decried the “gutlessness” and “cowardice” of the government for not supporting the war.

“Gutlessness” is rich coming from a man who does not particularly care that the white British will become a minority because he will be “long gone by then”. It is a wonder Tice can walk upright, as he is definitionally spineless on almost every issue that actually matters.

In an interview with Laura Kuenssberg, Robert Jenrick was asked whether he supported Tice’s view that Britain should take any action deemed appropriate to support the war. In a rather slippery move he stated that his colleague simply meant the use of our bases, which was not what he said. Suella Braverman said the government’s response was “fatal to the special relationship”, and that in times of peril there is a decision to be made about whether you are on the “right side of history”, adding that there was a “legal basis” for Britain to join the initial strikes on Iran.

For a party supposedly committed to net negative migration now and driving down the cost of living, it is frankly bizarre why most of its senior figures actively support a war that would potentially flood Europe with millions more refugees and hit people’s pockets with rising energy prices. Kemi Badenoch also supported strikes on the Iranian mainland because that is the “right thing to do”, and that Labour were “too scared” to take a stronger stance on Iran. By stronger stance I assume she means simply supporting a clear war of aggression which effectively endangers the entire region.

Even Advance’s Ben Habib, in yet another revealing take, stated that “the Iranian regime must be crushed. No quarter given. Get rid of its disgusting theocracy once and for all.” He was also seen giving a pro-US/Israeli speech in Whitehall with the likes of Tice, and Reform influencer and Israeli shill Nicholas Lissack. He even condemned protests in London against the Iran war, smearing them as “militant Muslims or idiots”. Nuance and non-interventionism matter little to the warmongering elite who resort to default leftist tactics.

Some Sanity In The Fog

Of the mainstream political parties, the Liberal Democrats urged Starmer to rule out the use of UK bases for any future strikes. The leader Ed Davey stated that the “UK can’t be dragged into another protracted conflict in the Middle East by a US president. Donald Trump’s unilateral and illegal military action will not deliver freedom, peace and security. It will only unleash more bloodshed.” That is unfortunately the reality right now on the ground in many parts of Iran.

The emerging Green Party, in a statement, called it an “illegal attack” and said that they stand “unequivocally against this reckless war and press for a peaceful solution”. Of course there are many, particularly on the Islamist wing of the Green Party, who oppose this war on ethnic and religious grounds, as might be expected.

Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain position is a non-interventionist, nativist one, which is firmly against foreign entanglements on behalf of foreign powers. Restore Britain spokesman Charlie Downes believes it will not benefit the British people and that, “We’ve been following the US into Middle Eastern wars for decades and the results have been nothing short of disastrous, both for ourselves and for global stability.”

I also personally commend the British Democrats who, in a recent policy statement, addressed the threat of Zionism directly and how it should have no influence over our foreign and domestic policies and affairs. They too want nothing to do with the conflict. “We are neither pro-Israel nor pro-Islam. We are pro-British.”

Public opinion on the US-Israeli-Iran war, according to YouGov, is that the majority (61%) of the British public are not even clear why the US attacked Iran. Attitudes among party voters differ, however. A majority of Reform (58%) and Tory (49%) voters supported the strikes, whereas the majority of Labour, Lib Dem and Green voters did not, which mirrors the party stances. There is growing discontent even among the Tory-voting public in recent days, with opposition climbing 10 points, suggesting growing opposition to the war in general.

There is an entirely false narrative that Iran or the regime itself is somehow a direct threat to Britain. Of all the Islamist-related terror attacks on our soil, not one was committed by an Iranian national or was linked to the regime or any of Iran’s proxies like Hezbollah, Hamas or the Houthis. The very worst an Iranian regime has done to Britain over the past few decades was to declare a fatwa against one of its citizens.

The conflict back home has clearly exposed the wicked face of the warmongers. The majority of the British public do not want this war or any part in it. They are already feeling the pinch themselves through rising fuel costs and energy bills that may go up as a direct consequence. We have lived through the disastrous Bush-Blair years, Barack Obama’s admitted “worst mistake” of his presidency in the Libya war, the radicalisation and proliferation of terror cells globally, and the spread of anti-Western sentiment throughout the world. We have seen the devastating impact interventionist foreign policy has had. Britain finally says no.