Four years ago, when Qatar hosted the World Cup, Keir Starmer had a fit of the vapours.
As leader of the opposition, he blocked Labour MPs from attending. Though personally a keen football fan (he supports Arsenal), Starmer announced that he would not attend the final even if England was in it.
The Qatar World Cup turned out to be a success, and many of the criticisms against the Gulf Arab state on human rights grounds were exaggerated or invented.
Four years later, Starmer is Britain’s prime minister. And in a characteristic display of double standards, we’ve heard not a squeak of protest from Downing Street about the US World Cup - yet the case for boycotting President Donald Trump’s United States is more powerful than the case against Qatar. Far more powerful.
Three months ago, the US and Israel launched a criminal and unprovoked attack on Iran. The assault was not authorised by the United Nations, meaning that the US and Israel were guilty under international law of an act of aggression.
