# Iran shock for Starmer Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-fix-742171/iran-shock-for-starmer Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-fix-742171/iran-shock-for-starmer.md Podcast: [Political Fix](https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-fix-742171) Published: 2026-03-06T13:48:55+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/ft-politics/episodes/iran-shock-for-starmer Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/ft-politics/e/69aadb477036d73902fc7b26/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/political-fix-742171/episodes/iran-shock-for-starmer Duration seconds: 2118 ## Resource A week into the Iran war and Sir Keir Starmer is scrambling to defend the UK’s position on the conflict. Criticised by Donald Trump over blocking the US from using British military bases to launch initial strikes on Iran, and under pressure from allies such as Cyprus to do more to protect the region, the PM is also facing demands to participate in strikes from the British right. But polling suggests the UK public is broadly in line with his policy on the conflict. This week host Lucy Fisher is joined by the FT’s chief political commentator Robert Shrimsley, deputy opinion editor Miranda Green and our economics editor, Sam Fleming, to discuss London’s response to the war. Plus, the panel examines chancellor Rachel Reeves’ spring forecast and the home secretary Shabana Mahmood’s new immigration policy. Want more?    Keir Starmer calls for de-escalation and defends his leadership over Iran attacks In defence of hand-wringers and pearl-clutchers Trump threatens to cut trade with ‘terrible’ Spain and calls Starmer ‘no Churchill’ Rachel Reeves faces hazardous fiscal picture even without Iran war UK to further curtail rights of asylum seekers Wealthy Dubai residents race back to UAE to avoid tax bills Clips from: BBC With Kevin Warsh nominated as the next Federal Reserve chair, join FT journalists on   Thursday March 19 at 1pm (GMT) for an exclusive subscriber webinar exploring the future direction of the greenback, monetary policy and the global financial system. Register now for  The Dollar under Trump  at  ft.com/trump-dollar  and send us your questions. Sign up  here  for 30 free days of Stephen Bush's Inside Politics newsletter, winner of the World Associati… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/political-fix-742171/episodes/iran-shock-for-starmer/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-fix-742171/iran-shock-for-starmer.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.