Is Sunak heading into a war that will swallow his reputation as Iraq did Blair’s?

Military action in the Red Sea is a risk for the prime minister, as his Labour predecessor would doubtless tell him – but it also spells trouble for the leader of the opposition, writes John Rentoul

As if to underscore Rishi Sunak’s new role as a war leader, hours after approving targeted strikes in Yemen, the prime minister flew to Kyiv (Reuters)

Rishi Sunak is taking a terrible risk in approving the air sorties against Houthi targets in Yemen. It may seem to be a minor military engagement. It may seem that he is part of a broad international coalition. And it may look as if the fuss about whether parliament should have voted on it is an irrelevant distraction, given that the Labour Party supports the strikes.

But the echoes from the past should keep Sunak awake at night.

Tony Blair’s first involvement in Iraq was to order airstrikes alongside Bill Clinton, the US president, in 1998, five years before the land invasion was launched.