“We don’t have an independent foreign policy, a Labour policy… We have outsourced it to the US administration.”
Unnamed Former Shadow Minister.
By Matt Willgress, Labour Outlook
In January, it was confirmed that Labour’s leadership had been consulting with US government figures over their stance on Gaza and has been heavily “influenced by the US position.”
At a Parliamentary Labour Party meeting, Keir Starmer told MPs he is in regular contact with Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Adviser, and Politics Home reported that “Senior Labour and US diplomatic figures are also understood to have discussed how to address the violence in Gaza.”
It’s hardly surprising then that Labour’s leadership still – even after the recent ICJ judgement – shamefully refuses to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, in complete step with the position of Israel’s biggest ally, the US.
This was followed by a BBC interview in which Starmer dropped all his previously held pledges with regards to militarism, including:
- A commitment to consult Parliament before military action.
- A commitment to introducing a Prevention of Military Intervention Act (a key component of his 2020 leadership pitch.)
- A commitment to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia, alongside reviewing all UK arms sales to make Britain a force for international peace.
The latter came alongside refusing to oppose the new UK and US strikes on Yemen – since extended to targets in Iraq and Syria by the US – which risk further escalating war in the Middle East.
As Labour NEC member Jess Barnard put it on her speech to a recent national demonstration for Palestine, “The air strikes on Yemen and continued support for Israel has received the backing of my own Party leader, Keir Starmer…[who is] on the brink of repeating the bloody history of Tony Blair, marching hand in hand with the US into another disastrous war in the Middle East while we the people are demanding a ceasefire.”
And as a former Shadow Minister said to the media, “We don’t have an independent foreign policy, a Labour policy… We have outsourced it to the US administration.”
Aa Jess alluded to, Starmer’s Atlanticism and militarism is not a new beat, but more of a broken record, which has undermined the popularity and policy agenda of previous Labour governments.
Tony Blair’s popularity – and how millions of people have viewed him since- never recovered from his slavish adherence to, and ideological agreement with, the demands and ‘line’ of the US Empire internationally.
71% of the British public back a ceasefire in Gaza – Keir Starmer is alienating millions on Gaza like Blair did on Iraq even before he has taken office, or indeed invested in peoples’ public services.
But it’s also clear the world is a vastly different place to 20 or 25 years ago.
Numerous economies and economic blocs are growing to be both more independent of the US and weightier in the global economy.
The US Empire meanwhile remains in comparative decline economically and is lashing out through permanent interventions – including wars and backing others’ wars – to try and re-assert dominance in different parts of the world.
But it is failing – as factors such as Latin America shifting to the Left again and the isolation of the US and Israel at the UN illustrate.
A forward-looking approach would see Labour seek to engage with the majority of the world to advance the causes of peace, self-determination, and social progress, not slavishly follow the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia, especially with the prospect of Trump returning to the US Presidency.
Just as different forces from across Labour’s Left and campaign groups such as ‘Labour & Palestine’ and Labour CND came together for the successful ‘red bloc’ on the first two Marches for Palestine of 2024, we must come together to organise for peace and not endless war in the months ahead.
- Join the Arise Festival A World To Win in-person dayschool in London on Saturday February 17, with speakers including Sinn Fein, Kate Hudson from CND and John McDonnell MP. Register and info here.
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