Is any party having a ‘good war’ on Iran? After Donald Trump’s first strikes, I suggested that the Prime Minister had few appealing options. A week on and both the Tories and Reform now appear to be rowing back on their initial statements calling for greater UK involvement. One party which feels confident that they can benefit from their rivals’ missteps is the Liberal Democrats. Ahead of their Spring Conference starting tomorrow, Sir Ed Davey’s forces are planning to exploit the Iran issue on the doorstep by tying it to cost-of-living pressures around rising energy bills.

Drawing inspiration from Richard Curtis’s Christmas blockbuster, the party is hoping for what it calls a ‘Love Actually dividend’ at the ballot box, by depicting Davey as standing up to a bullying US President. Internal plans – seen by The Spectator – suggest Lib Dem veterans, led by Mark Pack, the chair of the elections committee, is keen to draw parallels between the Iran crisis and the events of 2003. ‘For the first time since the Iraq war’, reads one memo, ‘we have a chance to turn a distinctive and principled Liberal Democrat position on foreign affairs into significant election........

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