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Keir Starmer has already found a new job to do after he gets turfed out of Parliament for being rubbish: he’ll be a fighter jet salesman.
Trouble is, his judgement seems pretty bad on that, too.
He’s been all over X, saying that he’s keeping 20,000 jobs secure with an £8 billion deal to build Typhoon jets for Turkey, and that it will boost exports and defend democracy.
But what he’s actually doing here is an object lesson in the Labour government’s new “corporate-first” foreign policy (if you’ve read my Whip Line article on Starmer giving the UK to corporations, you’ll know where this is coming from; if not, what are you waiting for? Get yourself a subscription and get over and read it! You’ll thank me) — where “boosting exports” and “defending democracy” have been blended into a single, cynical sales pitch.
On the face of it, he’s claiming this deal with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey is about “protecting NATO security” and “supporting British jobs.”
But in substance, it’s the same kind of ethical contortion that New Labour perfected under Blair: using the language of international cooperation to justify arming authoritarian regimes.
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Let’s unpack the contradictions:
Human rights versus “jobs and growth”
Starmer’s visit comes just as Turkey is jailing its main opposition leader, Ekrem İmamoğlu, and bringing in new charges clearly meant to keep him out of politics.
Amnesty International is warning about the criminalisation of same-sex marriage, mass arrests, and suppression of dissent.
Yet Starmer’s message was all about jobs — 20,000 of them — and NATO unity.
In other words: if there’s money in it, the morality can wait.
The framing mirrors the government’s domestic approach: “economic stability” as a blanket excuse for every compromise.
Human rights are treated as a diplomatic inconvenience, not a principle.
“A win for NATO security” — or a reward for Erdoğan?
Erdoğan’s government is not only locking up opposition politicians but also playing both sides of the geopolitical chessboard — balancing NATO membership with warm relations with Putin.
Selling him 20 state-of-the-art jets is effectively a vote of confidence in his regime, and a sign that Starmer is willing to trade legitimacy for leverage.
That’s not “strengthening the alliance”; it’s legitimising authoritarianism under a Western flag.
“Securing jobs” — the fig leaf of military-industrial dependence
The number that Starmer and BAE are touting — 20,000 UK jobs — seems impressive, but only around 500 of those are directly tied to the Typhoon line at Warton.
The rest are indirect or speculative, and could be sustained by green industry or infrastructure investment instead of weapons exports.
This deal looks less like national strategy and more like a subsidy for the arms industry, dressed up as foreign policy.
And notice how conveniently it aligns with BAE’s July warning that it needed new export orders to “preserve the Warton production line.”
The real pressure came from industry, not from international security needs.
The hypocrisy of “raising concerns”
Downing Street’s line that “we have raised the arrests” with Ankara is pure diplomatic boilerplate — the kind of meaningless phrasing used when no real consequences will follow.
If Starmer had truly wanted to send a message, he could have made human rights a precondition of the sale.
Instead, he finalised the contract while Erdoğan was throwing his opponent into jail on espionage charges.
That’s not “raising concerns”; that’s turning a blind eye for profit.
Labour’s corporate foreign policy
This is Starmer’s global version of the same logic he applies at home — appeasing business, flattering “the markets,” and silencing critics with talk of “security” and “stability.”
Under this approach, ethics are a luxury and trade is the new morality.
He’s not governing; he’s selling the idea of the United Kingdom as a reliable supplier of repression-friendly hardware — to Turkey today, perhaps to others tomorrow.
The verdict
Starmer is trying to present himself as a statesman, a reliable Western ally, and a friend to British workers.
But he’s actually arming an autocrat while his government crushes democracy — and calling it “progress.”
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Justice denied in favour of jet sales in Starmer’s big deal
Share this post:
Keir Starmer has already found a new job to do after he gets turfed out of Parliament for being rubbish: he’ll be a fighter jet salesman.
Trouble is, his judgement seems pretty bad on that, too.
He’s been all over X, saying that he’s keeping 20,000 jobs secure with an £8 billion deal to build Typhoon jets for Turkey, and that it will boost exports and defend democracy.
But what he’s actually doing here is an object lesson in the Labour government’s new “corporate-first” foreign policy (if you’ve read my Whip Line article on Starmer giving the UK to corporations, you’ll know where this is coming from; if not, what are you waiting for? Get yourself a subscription and get over and read it! You’ll thank me) — where “boosting exports” and “defending democracy” have been blended into a single, cynical sales pitch.
On the face of it, he’s claiming this deal with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey is about “protecting NATO security” and “supporting British jobs.”
But in substance, it’s the same kind of ethical contortion that New Labour perfected under Blair: using the language of international cooperation to justify arming authoritarian regimes.
Let’s unpack the contradictions:
Human rights versus “jobs and growth”
Starmer’s visit comes just as Turkey is jailing its main opposition leader, Ekrem İmamoğlu, and bringing in new charges clearly meant to keep him out of politics.
Amnesty International is warning about the criminalisation of same-sex marriage, mass arrests, and suppression of dissent.
Yet Starmer’s message was all about jobs — 20,000 of them — and NATO unity.
In other words: if there’s money in it, the morality can wait.
The framing mirrors the government’s domestic approach: “economic stability” as a blanket excuse for every compromise.
Human rights are treated as a diplomatic inconvenience, not a principle.
“A win for NATO security” — or a reward for Erdoğan?
Erdoğan’s government is not only locking up opposition politicians but also playing both sides of the geopolitical chessboard — balancing NATO membership with warm relations with Putin.
Selling him 20 state-of-the-art jets is effectively a vote of confidence in his regime, and a sign that Starmer is willing to trade legitimacy for leverage.
That’s not “strengthening the alliance”; it’s legitimising authoritarianism under a Western flag.
“Securing jobs” — the fig leaf of military-industrial dependence
The number that Starmer and BAE are touting — 20,000 UK jobs — seems impressive, but only around 500 of those are directly tied to the Typhoon line at Warton.
The rest are indirect or speculative, and could be sustained by green industry or infrastructure investment instead of weapons exports.
This deal looks less like national strategy and more like a subsidy for the arms industry, dressed up as foreign policy.
And notice how conveniently it aligns with BAE’s July warning that it needed new export orders to “preserve the Warton production line.”
The real pressure came from industry, not from international security needs.
The hypocrisy of “raising concerns”
Downing Street’s line that “we have raised the arrests” with Ankara is pure diplomatic boilerplate — the kind of meaningless phrasing used when no real consequences will follow.
If Starmer had truly wanted to send a message, he could have made human rights a precondition of the sale.
Instead, he finalised the contract while Erdoğan was throwing his opponent into jail on espionage charges.
That’s not “raising concerns”; that’s turning a blind eye for profit.
Labour’s corporate foreign policy
This is Starmer’s global version of the same logic he applies at home — appeasing business, flattering “the markets,” and silencing critics with talk of “security” and “stability.”
Under this approach, ethics are a luxury and trade is the new morality.
He’s not governing; he’s selling the idea of the United Kingdom as a reliable supplier of repression-friendly hardware — to Turkey today, perhaps to others tomorrow.
The verdict
Starmer is trying to present himself as a statesman, a reliable Western ally, and a friend to British workers.
But he’s actually arming an autocrat while his government crushes democracy — and calling it “progress.”
Support Vox Political!
With social media algorithms acting as gatekeepers – allowing users to read only what their owners want them to, sites like Vox Political need the support of our readers like never before.
You can help by making a donation:
https://Ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
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