Picture the scene:
You’re a young boy who’s been at senior school for a couple of months. Just by your personality and intellect, you’ve managed to incur the dislike and displeasure of the two school bullies (in this case we’ll call them ‘Jones’ and ‘Brown’). One day, Jones approaches you and start screaming about how much he dislikes you. He heaps calumny on you, your family and your friends. However, having hurt your feelings and made you cry, he doesn’t bother you anymore. A short time later, Brown grabs you and pulls you behind some trees at the bottom of the playground. He menacingly informs you that he’s coming for you. Some time; some where, he’s going to beat you up. You’ll never know when or where he might strike, thus spending the rest of your school life anxiously looking over your shoulder. You almost become neurotic with the fear that Brown has instilled in you, for whereas Jones is largely a bully reliant on intimidating words, Brown is a physically violent individual with a deeply malevolent streak.
In such a situation, who would you consider the be the most dangerous?
By the same token, this is exactly what happened with the respective positions taken by Donald Trump and Keir Starmer towards our Armed Forces last week. I say ‘our’ because, in Trump’s case, he made no direct reference to British troops. But let’s say, for sake of argument, that Donald Trump’s disdain for NATO actions in Afghanistan included our gallant lads in uniform. If that was the case his remarks were insulting, erroneous and a slap in the face. There was understandable public outrage and, within 48 hours and potentially due to an intervention by the King himself, President Trump had issued a statement on Truth Social clarifying his remarks and (rightly) praising the actions of British troops involved alongside the Americans in various wars. Move along, mainstream media. You’ve milked this for all it’s worth.
What angered me far more than Trump’s ignorance was Starmer’s hypocrisy. There he stood, pretending to love and respect our Armed Forces whilst being head of a government that could potentially throw dozens of Northern Ireland veterans – many in their 70s and 80s – into the judicial bureaucratic blender for allegations of misconduct over 40 old made by questionable individuals or disreputable sources. As Kate Hoey https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/21/labour-will-unleash-lawfare-on-our-veterans/ explains in the Daily Telegraph, soldiers who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles (the closest the United Kingdom has come to civil war since the 1600s) may now be subjected to being dragged through the courts, whilst the terrorists they fought enjoy the high life and/or trappings of political office thanks to the venality of Tony Blair and the moral vacuousness at the heart of the Belfast Agreement.
In many ways, what we have now is even worse than Blair! A government comprised of mean-spirited little individuals with their porcine snouts firmly stuck into the lawfare pie. History will record this move as another great surrender to Irish republican terrorists, their supporters and apologists. Decency and equanimity be damned. Starmer et al have quietly concluded those who fought in defence of the citizenry and the realm have less worth and entitlement to a stress-free dotage than those who planted bombs, blasted kneecaps and buried slaughtered victims in remote bogland. Under Keir “We are incredibly proud of our armed forces and their service and sacrifice will never be forgotten” Starmer’s government (https://www.facebook.com/BBCPolitics/posts/we-are-incredibly-proud-of-our-armed-forces-and-their-service-and-sacrifice-will/1354962766666655/) the United Kingdom has chosen to subordinate – at the behest of hostile parties – its duty of care and the principle of statute of limitations to an external legal order and call the process ‘justice’. Starmer’s administration wasn’t dragged kicking and screaming into abandoning all protections for those who donned the Queen’s uniform in Ulster. It consciously chose to abandon a settlement designed to end endless legal pursuit and replace it with permanent uncertainty and psychological anguish for those concerned; all whilst ensuring terrorists will never be subjected to the same treatment (whatever assurances the Secretary of State makes to the contrary).
It’s all part of the dystopia the Left offer modern Britain: A land where black is white, up is down, men are women, sectarian segregation is multicultural bliss, soldiers are baddies, and terrorists are peacemakers. As Kate Hoey’s article clearly demonstrates, the government could have stood its ground against the ECHR (it has done so consistently on the issue of voters for prisoners). Instead, on the advice of Richard Hermer (or ‘Hermerhoid’ as I prefer to call him), the government crumpled like yesterday’s newspaper and then gaslit the public by framing that surrender as moral rectitude. The consequential asymmetry will be catastrophic. HM Armed Forces kept records, gave statements to their superior officers, and are traceable. By sickening contrast, monsters such as Brendan ‘Bik’ McFarlane (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqlyvlevp1xo), Benny ‘the Groin’ O’Higgins and Elmer ‘Fudd’ O’Shaughnessy kept their identities secret, their methods hidden and their intentions ill-defined as they crouched in balaclavas in South Armagh hedgerows with guns and rocket launchers at the ready. That’s why the spotlight of industrious lawfare will only shine on our soldiers. It is why only they will be subjected to reopened cases and endless inquests, and why only they will wait with stomach-churning trepidation every time the postman approaches their front doors for years to come. Keir ‘God Bless our Armed Forces. They make me quiver at the knees with admiration’ Starmer knows this all too well. It’s using the law for the momentum of self-justification, not for justice itself.
So please spare me the guff about how much you love and respect our soldiers, Mr Prime Minister. Whether it comes to the treatment of Northern Ireland veterans, the woeful lack of funding for military equipment, or turning a blind eye to homeless battle-scarred heroes as your government houses illegal migrants in warm hotels, those of us with enough political nous not to be suckered in by the media’s latest incarnation of Trump Derangement Syndrome can see right through you. Trump was just pig-ignorant. You, on the other hand, are mendaciously vile. So, when all the furore has settled, I’d still rather have one thousand Donald Trumps in charge of this country than one of you, pal!
Roger and out!
