Starmer’s spinner squirms on Netanyahu arrest

It’s a day ending in ‘y’ – so it’s more bad news for the government. This afternoon the men and women of HM Loyal Press Gallery trooped over to No. 10 for their lobby briefing with Starmer’s superannuated spinners. Unfortunately, it seems, no-one in the ever-expanding comms team had actually worked out a line on the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu. Whoops!

A spokesman for the Prime Minister insisted that the government ‘respects’ the ‘independence’ of the ICC but that it is now a ‘domestic legal process’. So, what exactly does said process entail? It turns out that, er, no-one is exactly sure. The hapless spokesman declined to give any details about what the ‘domestic legal process’ entailed and insisted that No. 10 would not ‘comment’ on hypotheticals about whether the Israeli premier would be cuffed by cops if he came to Britain.

It’s worth remembering that Richard Hermer – Starmer’s hand-picked choice of an Attorney General – has previously said the UK would abide with the ICC.