Starmer’s press tormentors are merciless. He either needs to fight back or bypass them | Jane Martinson

2026-03-24 - 15:20

Now the rightwing press are accusing the PM of cowardice over Iran. He must stop letting them craft his narrative and create his own If there was one thing Keir Starmer might have hoped the UK media would support him over, it was his refusal to follow a US president blindly into war in the Middle East. After all, his Labour predecessor Tony Blair only really got hammered in the press over warmongering in Iraq. Those hopes must now be dashed. On Sunday, three major newspaper groups led with dire warnings from the Israeli Defense Force about Iran’s ability to hit London. Leaving aside the lack of official evidence or impartiality of the source, the tone of attack against the prime minister was striking. The Telegraph gave the floor to Starmer’s conservative rivals, mainly Reform UK’s Nigel Farage, who accused him of cowardice and presiding over a party “moving to a very extreme hard-left, Islamist-allied position”. The Express was equally dismissive (“Donald Trump brutally mocks Keir Starmer by sharing skit showing ‘scared’ Prime Minister”). And even the Sunday Times repeated the Israeli scaremongering, before adding far lower down that “it is not known for certain that Iran possesses a missile capable of reaching Diego Garcia”. Let alone London, 400 miles further. Continue reading...