Former Head of the British Army Lord Richard Dannatt has sharply criticised Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s response to Donald Trump’s bombing campaign against Iran, suggesting the PM has “backed the wrong horse” in his approach to the crisis.Speaking on GB News, Lord Dannatt said Starmer had placed himself “between a rock and a hard place” by attempting to maintain good relations with Trump whilst disagreeing with the use of military force.”On the one hand, he is very keen to have good relations with Donald Trump. We’ve seen a lot of effort put into trade deals and a lot of effort into putting the UK into a more favourable position than our EU partners,” Lord Dannatt explained.”On the other hand, he clearly doesn’t believe the use of force that the Americans have just demonstrated is the right thing to do.”Starmer broke his silence on the Iran strikes this morning, calling for the country to “return to the negotiating table” following US military action against Iranian nuclear facilities.In a statement issued at 7:30am, the Prime Minister described Iran’s nuclear programme as “a grave threat to international security” and said the US had “taken action to alleviate that threat”.LATEST DEVELOPMENTSIran warns ‘every American is a target’ as Tehran threatens revenge ahead of Vladimir Putin meetingBritish soldiers ‘prepared for all eventualities’ as Iran sends grisly warning after US strikesIran’s nuclear sites MAPPED – Exactly where the US and Israel dropped ‘full payload of bombs'”Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon,” Starmer stated, adding that “stability in the region is a priority”.The Prime Minister urged Iran to pursue a diplomatic solution, saying: “We call on Iran to return to the negotiating table and reach a diplomatic solution to end this crisis.”There was no UK involvement in the overnight US bombing of Fordo and other key nuclear sites in Iran.The Prime Minister’s current stance marks a shift from his position earlier this week. On Thursday, Starmer had urged Trump not to “ramp up” attacks, with both he and Foreign Secretary David Lammy pushing for a diplomatic solution rather than US military action.Lord Dannatt noted this contradiction, telling GB News host Camilla Tominey that Starmer had been “calling for restraint and a return to negotiations” alongside other European leaders.The former army chief’s comments came after former Defence Secretary Michael Portillo suggested the Prime Minister was being “lacklustre in his support of the US”.Lord Dannatt concluded that Starmer’s attempts to balance maintaining good relations with Trump whilst opposing military action had left him in a difficult position.Lord Dannatt warned that the US strikes have fundamentally altered any potential for meaningful negotiations with Iran.”I’m afraid the world has moved on rather rapidly. I don’t think any negotiations in any meaningful form are very likely because the effect of these massive ordnance penetrators has effectively taken the bargaining chip Iran had off the table,” he said.The former army chief suggested that Iran’s position in any future talks has been severely compromised by the destruction of its nuclear facilities.”If it comes to any form of negotiation, Iran is effectively negotiating with scraps so I think the Prime Minister may have backed the wrong horse on this one,” Lord Dannatt concluded.
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