Iran and the Middle East

Lord Wallace of Saltaire Excerpts

Monday 9th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

He always tries to be helpful. Obviously, noble Lords would not expect me to comment in any detail on exactly what is being used, but we have F35s and Typhoons, which are being used to keep our citizens safe. We may have time for the noble Lord to ask the question again; if that was not quite what he was asking, I would be happy to answer him again.

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire (LD)]

My Lords, we are hearing from administrative figures in the United States, including the Secretary of War, that this is a crusade and that we are fighting a battle between Christianity and Islam. Can the British Government make it very clear that, to quote Tony Blair in his past days, we do not do God; that we think that any suggestion that this ought to be a battle between Christianity and Islam is horrifying and will lead to more than a regional war; that the aims have to be kept clear and limited; and that our support for the United States is also very limited?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

That is absolutely not the language that we are using. The actions that we are taking are defensive, as I have explained, and it is vital that we all take extreme care with the language we use around this conflict, not least because it can, and often does, find itself repeated and played out on the streets of the United Kingdom.