“The fight for trust,” said new Labour prime minister Sir Keir Starmer ahead of the launch of his first legislative agenda, “is the battle that defines our political era.”
It is also a battle he appears to be losing.
After reports emerged suggesting the government lied when it said serious sexual offenders would not be released from prison after serving just 40% of their sentences, a leading Tory leadership candidate accused Starmer of being untruthful about his reasoning for suspending selected arms exports to Israel.
The PM’s top team insisted that the decision—which was branded as “shameful” by Benjamin Netanyahu and has caused a rift between London and Washington—was made with “regret” under “international legal obligations” after its commissioned review pointed to a “clear risk certain military exports to Israel might be used in violations of International Humanitarian Law.”
But Kemi Badenoch—who yesterday made it through to the next round of the Tory leadership race, and who, as former trade secretary, says she “saw the legal advice” on this case—responded: “It is not true that the removal of Israel arms licenses was a legal decision.”
Keir Starmer should not hide behind this fig leaf. It was *very* much a political decision.
Badenoch pointed to months of intimidation by the “anti-Israel lobby,” which earlier this year prompted chaotic scenes in Parliament not seen in quite some time. She added that rather than face these intimidators down, “the Labour government has once again prioritised the mob over UK interests, making politically charged foreign policy decisions that lack legal reasoning and weaken our position in the global fight against Iran and her terrorist proxies.”
It is worth noting that the government review said “it has not been possible to reach a determinative judgment on allegations regarding Israel’s conduct of hostilities,” and that Washington officials also say there has been “no determination by the United States they [Israel] have violated international humanitarian law.” Meaning, as Badenoch concluded, that Starmer is simply “using and politicising the law for political ends.”
The European Conservative also highlighted at the time this suspension was announced—just after six Israeli hostages were murdered—that whatever the ‘official’ motives, “unofficially, the move is clearly intended to bring about unity within the Labour party—that is, by capitulating to its more leftist fringes, which have already complained that the suspension doesn’t go far enough.”
The UK Foreign Office has been approached for comment.
