Middle East

Clive Lewis Excerpts

Monday 23rd June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

I assure the hon. Member that these issues are of course under consideration in the Government. All contingencies are in place, and we are in discussion with our allies about that, but it would be wrong for me to go into operational detail.

[Clive Lewis (Norwich South) (Lab)]

May I associate myself with the comments made across the House about the dire and despicable nature of the Iranian regime? That said, last week the Foreign Secretary told the House that attacks on Iran were not in our national interest. So does he believe that the strikes led by Trump and Netanyahu—two hard-right authoritarians with no love for a rules-based order—have made Britain or the world any safer? Or does he agree with me that, for much of the world watching, the message is chillingly clear? In a global order where rules mean little and might makes right, deterrence not diplomacy is now the only defence; and that, as he must acknowledge, makes global security more precarious than ever.

[Mr Lammy]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, and I recall that he also recognises the problems of that nuclear threat and nuclear proliferation. An assessment has not yet been made of the effectiveness of that military action, but he will have heard my remarks in relation to diplomacy. That is the way now, and it will be the way that we get beyond this current crisis.