Prime Minister Keir Starmer has faced criticism after using a major international summit to take aim at his domestic political rivals, Reform UK and the Green Party.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Starmer issued a stark warning about what he described as political forces “on the extremes of left and right”. Without naming the parties directly at first, he criticised what he called the “peddlers of easy answers”.
He told European allies: “It’s striking that the different ends of the spectrum share so much. Soft on Russia. Weak on Nato. If not outright opposed. And determined to sacrifice the relationship we need on the altar of their ideology.”
Starmer urged fellow leaders to “stand up and fight” for shared democratic values to prevent a future marked by “division and then capitulation”.
Keir Starmer’s Munich Speech: Reform UK and Greens in the Spotlight
Questions were quickly raised about why the prime minister chose to reference his domestic opponents at an international gathering focused on global security.
Responding to those concerns, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper defended Starmer’s remarks, arguing they addressed broader national security concerns linked to international alliances such as Nato.
“We have seen both Reform and the Greens undermine that commitment to the Nato alliance,” she said. “I think that is hugely important because I think our national security comes first.”
Pressed on what Reform UK leader Nigel Farage had specifically done to undermine Nato, Cooper replied: “We’ve seen Reform have not taken seriously the threat from Russia.
“They have refused and failed to do an investigation into Russian interference within their own party, despite the fact that their Welsh leader [Nathan Gill] was convicted of the links to Russia.
“They have too often dismissed the threat from Russia, even at a time when we see lethal poisons being used once again just as we saw in Salisbury.
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“I do take that extremely seriously and I think it is a problem that Reform don’t.”
However, broadcaster Trevor Phillips suggested there was another interpretation of Starmer’s intervention.
“There was another way to read the prime minister’s comments,” Phillips said, describing it as “a signal to our allies how rattled he is that he has to go to Munich to complain about domestic political opponents, Reform and the Greens.”
He added: “The message to our allies is that this guy is on his way out and there’s no point doing deals with him or with you.”
Cooper rejected that characterisation, saying: “The partnership Keir has built with other leaders, the work we are doing together is immensely important.”
Reform UK and Green Party Respond to Starmer’s Nato Criticism
Reform UK’s head of policy Zia Yusuf strongly disputed claims about the party’s position on Russia and Nato.
“That is obviously not true,” he told Sky News. “Nigel is the only political leader who has confirmed on air that he would indeed shoot down Russian aircrafts if they were in Nato airspace.
“Not a single other political leader, nor has Keir Starmer. We are crystal clear at Reform – this is a new era, and we totally agree that there’s a new world order that is emerging right now.”
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Meanwhile, Green Party co-leader Zack Polanski described Starmer’s speech as “not 100 miles away from what I’ve been saying for months now, which is that we need a closer relationship with Europe”.
“It’s quite bizarre to hear him repeating a lot of things I’ve been saying and making an attack on me at the same time,” he said.
Although Polanski has previously labelled Nato’s current framework “out of date” due to Donald Trump’s involvement, he insisted the Greens would support collective defence. “If we’re in Nato as we are,” he said, the party would commit to defending a Nato country against an attack.
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