Donald Trump has launched another attack on Keir Starmer as it emerged the UK will not be involved in his plan to blockade the Strait of Hormuz.
The US president announced on Sunday that America and “other countries” will stop ships coming in and out of the vital waterway.
Around one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquid gas supply usually passes through the key shipping lane.
But it has been effectively closed since the start of the war, with Iran targeting tankers which try to sail through it unless they agree to pay a toll.
We do things bigger! The many terrible things that we’ve perpetrated are unfortunately not unique among the cadre of world superpowers; the same way that rich people are “eccentric” instead of “crazy”, we’ve gotten passes on our worst transgressions because a) other world leaders are also bad, and b) there was a veneer of justification.
What makes the recent(ish) shift stand out is tone. This entire Iran excursion isn’t the worst thing we’ve done by far, but it’s displaying weakness in how blatantly base and stupid and venal it is. Tongue-in-cheek, it’s Gauche - when we’ve aspired to expect a more refined dystopia.