Sir Keir’s U

As prime minister, David Cameron sought and failed to obtain parliamentary approval for a military strike in the Middle East. In perhaps his biggest foreign policy setback, Cameron lost a vote in 2013 to attack Syrian targets after the embattled Assad regime used chemical weapons.

Now as Foreign Secretary, Lord Cameron and Rishi Sunak have the backing of the Labour leader for the decision to join a US-led action to knock out Houthi missile batteries in Yemen being used to target international shipping in the Red Sea. 

Sir Keir Starmer told Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC that he supported the operation “so far” but would need to consider the arguments further if it were to continue. Since there has been no parliamentary vote on the action, this was a departure for Sir Keir. He had previously said there should be no military commitments without first being approved by MPs. Indeed, he had pledged a new law requiring the consent of the Commons.

But Sir Keir now says that he meant only “sustained” military action would be covered and conceded that sometimes decisions could not be delayed pending a debate by MPs.

He said action had to be taken on Houthi targets because “sitting back and doing nothing” would not have been appropriate and international trade routes needed to be protected.

This is a more mature position for the Labour Party to adopt than in 2013, when allied plans to bomb Syria had to be abandoned. There may well be a debate and vote on the Yemeni strikes this week so it will be instructive to see whether Sir Keir has convinced his party to follow his lead.

Although since the Iraq invasion it has become a convention to require parliamentary approval for military action, it is not a constitutional obligation since the Government possesses the prerogative to make such decisions.

Nonetheless, it is important to ensure parliamentary backing especially if the operation is likely to continue. That is not clear yet. The United States bombed further targets at the weekend to degrade the Houthi ability to attack shipping, but there is always a threat this will trigger a reaction from other regional players, notably Iran. 

Lord Cameron said it was “hard to remember a more unstable, dangerous and uncertain world” with war in Ukraine, Gaza and now the Gulf. China’s reaction is awaited to the re-election of Taiwan’s ruling party. This is a time for Parliament to show unity in defence of UK interests.