Kmflett's Blog

The Silences of Starmer & Blair on the 23rd anniversary of the Iraq War

The second Iraq War started on March 20^th 2003. A Guardian Fletter in 2022 made the point that when Blair was appointed to the Order of the Garter it was an attempt to erase from the official memory what happened.

Keir Starmer, while approving a knighthood for Tony Blair, notes that Iraq remains an issue for many (UK government urged to rescind Tony Blair’s knighthood, 4 January 2022). The problem is that elevating the former prime minister to the Order of the Garter is an official attempt to say that the Iraq war doesn’t matter any-more. The current Labour leader had it right when, as a QC and human rights lawyer, he wrote in the Guardian on 17 March 2003 that “flawed advice does not make the unlawful use of force lawful”. Many of us remember the point; it’s a pity Sir Keir seems to have forgotten it.

Keith Flett

Tottenham, London Guardian Fletter, January 2022

Keir Starmer’s 2003 Guardian piece where he determined the war was unlawful is here:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/mar/17/foreignpolicy.iraq1?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

His silence on the 23rd anniversary of the Iraq War is not a surprise to those of us who opposed the war but on the 20^th anniversary Rupert Murdoch noticed too. Patrick Maguire (Times 20^th March 2023) in an article which mainly attacked the Labour left instanced the silences of Starmer on the 20th anniversary