JEREMY Corbyn has said that UK Government's failings when it comes to Israel’s war on Gaza will lead to a Chilcot-style inquiry.
“Sadly, history is repeating itself,” the former Labour leader told the Sunday National in an exclusive interview.
“I'm very sure we're going to expend a lot of sweat getting there, but we will get there and there will be such an inquiry.”
Gordon Brown ordered the Chilcot Inquiry in June 2009 to look into the Labour government and particularly his predecessor Tony Blair’s decision-making when it came to the UK’s involvement in the war in Iraq.
The seven-year-long inquiry ultimately ruined Blair’s reputation, exposing his subservient relationship to US president George W Bush and found that the UK had not properly exhausted the peace process.
The war led to the loss of around 150,000 Iraqi lives as well as those of 179 Brits.
Now, Corbyn has said that Keir Starmer and the new Labour Government should expect a new one – particularly given the UK’s continued arms sales to Israel.
While Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced a partial arms embargo earlier this year due to fears UK-made weapons are being used to commit war crimes, parts for F-35 fighter jets – used to bomb Gaza – are exempt.
The war on Gaza has so far led to the deaths of at least 45,028 Palestinians – the majority of whom are women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry.
“I hope we're not going to have to go through years of parliamentary wrangling about the effectiveness and nature of the inquiry and then end up with a legally independent judge-led inquiry into the whole process of decision making,” the Independent MP for Islington North said.
“But if we have to do that, then we have to do that because we need to get to the truth of it.”
Corbyn added that there has to be an inquiry specifically into the “complications of demanding adherence to international law”.
“The UK prides itself on that and then is clearly continuing very normal relations with a state that clearly does not adhere to international law in any way whatsoever,” he said.
Corbyn also expressed concern over the Scottish Government continuing to issue grants to arms firms linked to Israel.
Earlier this month, Scotland’s Foreign Secretary Angus Robertson defended the grants from Scottish Enterprise, saying that they are not "direct funding for the manufacture of weapons".
The grants to the likes of BAE Systems, Thales and Leonardo – which have totalled around £3 million since 2023 – have been criticised by campaigners and charities including Amnesty International, who told the Sunday National it risked “complicity with the most serious of international humanitarian law violations”.
Scottish Enterprise, meanwhile, has also defended the grants – insisting that human rights diligence checks are conducted and are taken “seriously”.
Corbyn said all support for arms manufacturers ought to end “particularly in the light of what's happening in Gaza”.
“I think the Scottish Government has a good and correct policy on the whole issue, but there seems to be something lacking in this semi-detached approach that is taken by investors and Scottish Enterprise on how these policies are actually enacted,” he said.
“And so that is the danger. With arms-length operations by governments, you've got to be completely on it to make sure the policy is carried out.”
Corbyn added: “I'm sure the intention of the Scottish Government is not to support or invest in arms industries, particularly those supplying Israel, but they have to make sure it actually happens.”
