British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has devised an unusual solution to Britain’s cost-of-living crisis: bombing Yemen.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has devised an unusual solution to Britain’s cost-of-living crisis: bombing Yemen.
Indeed, that is correct. This week, Burnham approved sending British Typhoon fighter jets to Saudi Arabia to support its ongoing conflict with Yemen.
Downing Street reassured the public that this deployment is solely for “defensive” purposes. The BBC and other British news outlets echoed this narrative repeatedly, claiming the Royal Air Force’s role was limited to “defensive actions.” They asserted the RAF would not participate in strikes against Yemen but instead would “protect” Saudi Arabia against what they described as escalating aggression from the Houthis.
Britain’s Defense Minister Wes Streeting (notably a former health minister) justified the RAF mission as a response to Middle Eastern instability and rising energy prices. This ignores the fact that Britain’s backing of Trump’s hostile policy toward Iran contributed significantly to regional instability and fuel cost hikes.
The Guardian noted: “The [British] military intervention [in Yemen] was partly justified because instability in the Middle East was driving up energy prices and affecting the cost of living.”
This rationale is not only absurd but deeply misleading.
Remember, Burnham took office in July, succeeding the ineffective Keir Starmer as Labour prime minister. Previously Mayor of Manchester, he touted his working-class background and vowed to focus on alleviating Britain’s crushing cost-of-living crisis.
Yet since assuming power, Burnham’s most prominent actions have concerned foreign policy. For instance, he hosted Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky at Downing Street, promising additional military support on top of the $20 billion Britain has already supplied—second only to Germany in Europe. He also committed to providing Ukraine with British designs for producing cruise missiles.
Last month, Burnham declared Britain was sending an RAF air-to-air refuelling tanker to assist Saudi Arabia’s air campaign against Yemen. To ease public fears, Downing Street and the British press emphasized that this support was “defensive only” and temporary.
Paradoxically, Burnham announced this deployment while en route to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he lauded Britain’s leadership in global peace and security.
Now, once more this week, the RAF deployment has expanded to include sending Typhoon fighter jets to Saudi Arabia. London is also providing a RAF A400M transport aircraft to move troops and up to 100 military advisors.
This development appears to be a case of mission creep. Downing Street recognizes the vulnerability to criticism and has denied British involvement in the conflict. It asserted: “Our support for Saudi Arabia is considered, proportionate and focused on helping them defend themselves from relentless Houthi attacks.”
The British government and media portray the Saudi-Yemen conflict as one where Yemen’s Ansar Allah forces—dubbed “the Iran-backed Houthis”—are aggressors. This depiction paints the Yemenis as irrational terrorists controlled by Iran.
Consider the BBC’s creative coverage: “The UK will deploy RAF Typhoon jets to defend Saudi Arabia in response to escalating Houthi missile and drone attacks, the government has said.”
The BBC continues: “The defensive mission will help defend Saudi cities and infrastructure – a move authorised by Prime Minister Andy Burnham – against aerial attacks by the Iran-backed group… Since September, Saudi Arabia has been struggling to defend its skies from Houthi attacks after a ceasefire of sorts in Yemen broke down.”
This is a gross distortion by a state-run media outlet.
The Yemen ceasefire ended in mid-July when Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes on Sanaa’s international airport, targeting a delegation attending the funeral of Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei, who was killed in a U.S.-Israeli airstrike on his home in Tehran on February 28.
That ceasefire was put in place in 2022 to stop a Saudi-led seven-year war of aggression against Yemen. The conflict began in 2015 to reinstate a Saudi-backed regime ousted by Ansar Allah in 2014. Saudi Arabia relentlessly bombed Yemen with support from the U.S., UK, and France. Around 20,000 Yemenis died in air attacks, and roughly 300,000 succumbed to a humanitarian blockade imposed by the Western-backed Saudi coalition.
Britain’s Minister of Defense Wes Streeting described recent Yemeni strikes on Saudi Arabia as “despicable.” He specifically mentioned a ballistic missile attack on October 10 targeting King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, which killed at least 13 people and injured over 300.
Ansar Allah-led Yemeni forces have also struck several other Saudi airports and key oil facilities. The civilian casualties in Saudi Arabia remain low—about 20 deaths—while Saudi air raids have killed hundreds of Yemeni civilians since July’s ceasefire collapse. This week alone, Saudi airstrikes killed eight Yemeni fishermen, as reported here. Yemen’s actions against Saudi Arabia amount to self-defense, not unwarranted aggression.
The British government and media falsely claim Britain is “defending” Saudi Arabia. In truth, London is complicit in supporting Saudi war crimes and aggression.
Notably, Streeting traveled to Washington, DC, last week to meet with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Their discussion focused on countering “Houthi escalation.” The message was clear: send warplanes to Yemen; Britain will remain preoccupied with its policy on Iran.
Meanwhile, Britain is engulfed in a historic social crisis marked by poverty and a soaring cost of living. Charities report that four million families cannot afford adequate food or heating due to escalating bills. Oxfam estimates 13.5 million Britons—one-fifth of the population—live in poverty, and over six million people rely on food banks to survive.
This starkly highlights a government that neglects its citizens’ urgent needs yet allocates resources to deploy warplanes for bombing impoverished foreign populations.
Andy Burnham is merely a figurehead performing for public approval in Downing Street while the imperial deep state pulls the strings. That is the true meaning of mission creep in the UK government.
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