WE CAN be assured of one thing at this year’s Labour conference: there will be continuity Tory policies from the government on matters of war, peace and arms spending. It meets against a background of a threatened invasion of Lebanon by Israel, compounding its genocidal war in Gaza. 

Keir Starmer has made it clear that the support for Israel which lost him so many votes at the election is going to continue. He is also in the forefront of urging the US and European countries to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles within Russia. 

Both are escalations of already horrific wars. But the word “peace” barely passes the Prime Minister’s lips. Instead he wants to project himself as a “strong” leader — hence his trip to Washington to urge President Joe Biden to back greater missile use by Ukraine inside Russia. While he made the “tough choice” of cutting pensioners’ winter fuel allowance, thus consigning many of older people to misery and illness, when it comes to arms and “defence” spending, the sky’s the limit.