14 hours ago
Labour fears repeat of Iraq war failures if it supports US strikes on Iran
Labour ministers fear that supporting the US in possible attacks on Iran could repeat the failures of the Iraq war.
Senior government sources are concerned that backing American air strikes on a nuclear facility could be unlawful after Lord Hermer, the Attorney General, warned Sir Keir Starmer it could be illegal.
Party figures also fear that supporting the US by allowing its military to carry out bombing runs from the UK's Diego Garcia air base in the Chagos Islands would be politically unpopular.
The Telegraph has been told there is 'twitchiness' in No 10 over the situation because of Labour's legacy of involving the UK in the 2003 invasion of Iraq – at the urging of the US government – without a UN resolution.
The UN's charter states that attacking another country is only permissible in international law in self-defence, to defend an ally or if it is authorised by the Security Council.
Jonathan Powell, Downing Street's national security adviser, and Lord Mandelson, the British ambassador to the US, are among the officials dealing with the current crisis from the UK side.
Both were confidantes of Sir Tony Blair at the time of the Iraq invasion, with Mr Powell serving as the No 10 chief of staff.
Lord Mandelson, who was an ally on the Labour backbenches at the time, has since written that Sir Tony developed 'tunnel vision' over the war, and ignored his pleas in early 2003 to consider the 'political nuances' and 'practical implications' of an invasion.
On Thursday, he joined David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, in Washington for meetings with US officials, including Marco Rubio, the secretary of state.
Mr Lammy was planning to use the talks to attempt to persuade American officials that they should not intervene in the conflict between Iran and Israel, it is understood.
It came as Donald Trump provisionally approved a plan to drop a 'bunker buster' bomb on Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility. On Thursday, the president said he would make a decision on whether to proceed with any US attack 'in the next two weeks'.
US media report that the president is becoming increasingly convinced of the need to strike the Fordow nuclear fuel enrichment plant, which is buried deep beneath a mountain south-west of Tehran.
If he does order an air strike, it is possible the US would use B-2 bombers stationed at Diego Garcia.
Downing Street has publicly played down talk of Britain joining US forces, arguing on Thursday that 'de-escalation is the priority' in the region and that 'we would not want to see anything that ramps up the situation'.
'The continuation of the current situation is in no one's interest. We want to see cool heads and a return to diplomacy because that is the best route forward,' Sir Keir's official spokesman said.
Lucy Powell, the Leader of the House of Commons, said MPs would get a vote on any sustained British military action.
However, there are fears in Downing Street that publicly supporting Israel's attacks on Iran would alienate voters, as well as Labour MPs who have been campaigning against military action.
On Thursday, Emily Thornberry, the Labour chairman of the foreign affairs committee, said that 'any of those justifications' for war in the UN charter did not apply because the UK was 'not under threat ourselves' and there was no Security Council resolution.
Earlier this week, Richard Burgon, a Left-wing Labour MP, said that the Government must rule out military action in Iran because 'we saw with Iraq how following Right-wing US presidents into Middle East wars can end'.
The Government has taken an increasingly hard line on Israel over the war in Gaza in recent months and last week took the unusual step of sanctioning two of the country's ministers.
Polls show that around half of the public do not want Britain to intervene on either side of the conflict between Israel and Iran, while the majority of remaining voters say they either do not know which country to support or that the UK should back Israel.
The UK has not been directly involved in protecting Israel from Iran's most recent missile attacks, although last year it did provide air-to-air refuelling support when Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles.
A spokesman for Lord Hermer declined to comment on his legal opinion, but The Telegraph understands it was issued shortly after Israel's first attack on Iran last Thursday.
He reportedly told Sir Keir that he had concerns about 'playing any role in this except for defending our allies' – one of the three justifications for such military action under the UN charter.
