Skip to main content
Labour’s dangerous continuity with Tory militarism
The Prime Minister’s reckless stance on long-range missiles and uncritical support for Israel threaten to escalate conflicts, warns Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament general secretary KATE HUDSON
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer meets British soldiers at Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire where he saw Ukranian soldiers being trained by the army as part of Operation Interflux, August 24, 2022

THE slick continuity of Labour’s policies with those of its Tory predecessor is striking. Whether it’s foreign policy, economic policy, or social policy — the question is, really, where has there been a break in continuity? Where is the change we need to benefit our communities, to restore and rebuild the lives, hopes, and opportunities of all of us?

As we head into Labour’s first conference as the party of government for 15 years, it’s clear that vision for change is absolutely absent. In its place comes a trumpeting of values that are alien to the best traditions of the labour movement — not least when it comes to foreign and defence policies.

Indeed, Labour’s position on so-called “defence” — actually war-fighting and militarism — is thoroughly reprehensible, underpinned by a rhetoric that is at times more extreme than that of the Tories.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
GLOSSING OVER REALITY: Keir Starmer at a roving robot technology workshop sponsored by BAE system in Barrow-in-Furness while viting to lay the keel for first Dreadnought class nuclear-armed submarine, March 2025
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament / 10 July 2026
10 July 2026

We need a government that invests in saving lives not destroying them, argues SOPHIE BOLT

Andy Burnham, holding a copy of the UK Defence Investment Plan, during an appearance on the Tonight with Andrew Marr show on LBC radio, from the Global studios at Millbank, central London, July 2, 2026
Militarism / 9 July 2026
9 July 2026
John Healey
Eyes Wright / 17 June 2026
17 June 2026

The defence secretary’s resignation reveals not a split over principle but a dispute over pace of military spending, as Britain’s political Establishment unites behind deeper Nato commitments, argues NICK WRIGHT