Embattled Starmer, With Ship Attacked in Hormuz Strait, Pretends That Britain Yet Rules the Waves

Iran is again firing on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, hitting a U.K. tanker earlier today. The result torpedoes Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s “strictly defensive” group of “international partners.” This inability to respond to or even deter attacks is the latest signal that “Rule, Britannia” is now an elegy for a rusted-out military.Friday on X, Sir Keir announced a “joint plan” with 50 other nations “to protect freedom of navigation,” after America said the strait was free of mines and Iran briefly declared it reopened. Imagine the U.K. announcing that it would escort supply ships across the Atlantic, but only doing so in 1945 after Germany’s U-boats had been sent to the bottom.Sir Keir said on Monday that the U.K. was “not supporting the blockade,” yet sought to bask in its wake. At the outset, he declared Iran “not our war” and told BBC on Monday that “we’re not getting dragged into” it. He opted out of the fighting but wants in on dictating the peace.In a statement with President Emmanuel Macron of France, Sir Keir invited “all nations … to join us.” Chancellor Friedrich Merz added that Germany “stands ready to play its part.” Wednesday on MSNBC, the French finance minister, Roland Lescure, told CNBC that his country is “willing to do something” but only “provided that this is not a war situation anymore.” Like his French counterparts, Herr Merz recognizes that American involvement would be “desirable,” undermining Sir Keir’s belief that action can be taken “independent” of them. The idea that Sir Keir has the military might to impose his will alone surfaces a 100-year-old question: “You and what army?”Britain is not the nation that surged 100 ships to the Falkland War in 1981. In May on London Broadcasting Company radio, its defense secretary, John Healey, stammered when asked how many ships the Royal Navy possesses before saying, “17 frigates and destroyers.” That’s fewer than the 20 vessels that Pepsi Co. acquired on paper from the Soviet Union in 1989.When an Iranian drone struck the British base on Cyprus last month, HMS Dragon took three weeks to arrive and soon limped back to port for repairs. Neither of the U.K.’s aircraft carriers, which Mr. Trump called “toys,” are available and almost never deploy together. Last month, the U.K. had to borrow a German frigate, Sachsen, for a NATO mission in the North Atlantic.Earlier this month, Sweden’s Svenska Dagbladet newspaper asked the U.K.’s first sea lord, General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, whether the Royal Navy was ready for war. “I don’t think we are,” he replied, and it won’t be until 2030. It has plenty of admirals — about two for every combat ship — without much to do.“I have a real issue with the way that we assess our needs at the moment,” General Jenkins told a conference in November. He said the Royal Navy is “very vulnerable to promoting toxic leaders,” and war “would be horrendous for all of us for a bunch of reasons.”In an editorial on Friday, The New York Sun wrote about the U.K.’s former American envoy, Peter Mandelson, being appointed despite having “failed vetting” over his relationship with the convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. The Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, called the premier’s denial “completely preposterous,” as he faces calls to resign.Sir Keir’s denial about the state of the Royal Navy is just as preposterous. On Friday, Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social that NATO called “asking if we would need some help” in the Gulf. He “told them to stay away,” calling NATO “useless when needed, a Paper Tiger!” The Iranian attack on the U.K. tanker shows that Iran shares this assessment.Britannia may still sing the same old song but it has long since ceased to rule the waves even in peacetime. It does friends in America and other NATO nations no good to act parts in Mr. Starmer’s pantomime. When he boasts that the U.K. will protect shipping on the high seas, it’s better that they ask: You and what navy?

Embattled Starmer, With Ship Attacked in Hormuz Strait, Pretends That Britain Yet Rules the Waves

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