BORIS Johnson has been accused of a dereliction of duty by Labour for not returning early from his Caribbean holiday as the threat of an all-out war in the Middle East rises in wake of the US killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimaini.
The attack came as Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, defended Washington's killing of Iran's top military leader, whom he described as a "regional menace," and accused hardliners in Tehran of "nefarious behaviour".
On Sky News, Emily Thornberry, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, accused the Prime Minister of being preoccupied elsewhere, saying: “He's sunning himself, drinking vodka Martinis somewhere else and not paying attention to this.
"We've had three Cobra meetings where Mark Sedwill, the chief civil servant, has had to chair it because the Prime Minister hasn't been available."
Ms Thornberry, a contender for the Labour leadership, suggested the Middle East was now facing the prospect of a major conflict and that, unlike 2003, Britain should not be dragged into it but should “say no to the Americans”.
This was echoed by her colleague Sir Keir Starmer, who has this weekend also thrown his hat into the ring to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader. He warned about repeating the mistakes of the past, declaring: “We can’t blindly follow the Americans.
Sir Ed Davey for the Liberal Democrats noted: "Johnson's silence on Trump's dangerous assassination in Iraq is deafening. The Prime Minister must speak out now and make clear Britain will not support the US in repeating the mistake of the Iraq war."
But Mr Raab defended Mr Johnson, insisting the PM was “in charge”.
The Foreign Secretary told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “In fact, I've been in constant contact with him over the Christmas break on a whole range of foreign policy issues.
"We were in touch on Friday with relation to the situation in Iraq and the whole Government is working very closely together. I spoke to the [US] Defence Secretary last night, I talked to the [US] National Security Adviser on Friday and we're very clear on the strategy and how we're implementing it and he'll be back in play tomorrow in the UK."
A Whitehall insider stressed the PM would be meeting ministers on Monday and speaking to foreign leaders over the next few days. A Commons statement is due Tuesday when MPs return from their Christmas recess.
Mr Raab insisted that what mattered was that the UK Government had a very clear strategy and its message was a desire to see de-escalation.
“We're going to do everything we can to protect the UK diplomatic missions and we're going about that business.
"I've been hitting the phones hard in relation to all our international partners, and as you said, I'll be travelling and meeting with our European partners, our American friends, I'll be in Montreal meeting my Canadian opposite number as well.
"And so the diplomatic effort goes on and indeed the Prime Minister has been engaged in that as well," he explained.
Mr Raab, who confirmed Britain had not been informed in advance of the US strike, pointed out that he had spoken to the Iraqi Prime Minister and President and would be speaking to Iran's Foreign Minister later today; on Thursday, he will be in Washington to speak to Mr Pompeo, who has been critical of EU leaders’ response to the US drone strike that killed Gen Soleimaini.
Asked on BBC TV’s Marr Show if he believed the American attack was right, the Secretary of State said: “We understand the actions the Americans have taken…Let’s be clear about this, they have a right to exercise self-defence. Gen Soleimaini was the head of the Kuds force, the wing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard that is destabilising countries across the Middle East to assert Iranian influence and indeed attack western countries, which are legitimately there. So, we understand the position and the action they have taken.”
Asked if the killing of Gen Soleimain legal, Mr Raab replied: “There is a right to self-defence. It was Gen Soleimaini’s job description to engage proxies, militias across not just Iraq but the whole region not to destabilise those countries but to attack western countries that were legitimately there. In those circumstances, self-defence clearly applies.”
Since the attack, Washington and Tehran have engaged in a war of words.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, who had a close personal relationship with Gen Soleimani, has warned of "severe revenge" for the attack, while analysts have suggested Iran could undertake cyber attacks against the US or traditional attacks on US targets or interests in the Middle East.
Donald Trump has issued a stark warning to the Iranian leadership, threatening to hit 52 targets "very fast and very hard" if it retaliated over the killing of Gen Soleimani. He has ordered a strengthening of the US military’s presence in the region with the dispatch of 3,000 more troops.
In Tehran, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s Foreign Minister, responded to the US President’s threats of further strikes saying they breached international law.
He tweeted: "Having committed grave breaches of int'l law in Friday's cowardly assassinations, @realdonaldtrump threatens to commit again new breaches of Jus cogens; targeting cultural sites is a war crime; whether kicking or screaming, end of US malign presence in West Asia has begun."
Mr Zarif added: "Those masquerading as diplomats and those who shamelessly sat to identify Iranian cultural & civilian targets should not even bother to open a law dictionary.
"Jus cogens refers to peremptory norms of international law, i.e. international red lines. That is, a big[ly] 'no no'."
This morning, thousands of mourners converged on the Iranian city of Ahvaz to receive the remains of the General, beating their chests and chanting "death to America" ahead of his burial on Tuesday.
A protest against the Soleimani killing is due to be held this afternoon outside London's US embassy organised by the Union of Islamic Student Association in Europe.
The Foreign Office has issued strengthened travel advice to Britons across the Middle East including Saudi Arabia and Turkey, while the Navy will begin accompanying UK-flagged ships through the key oil route of the Strait of Hormuz.
Military chiefs are understood to have ordered 400 soldiers training local forces in Iraq to scrap their duties to switch to "force protection" to defend themselves and British diplomats from revenge strikes.
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