If Iran retaliates by disrupting the Strait of Hormuz it will bring into sharp relief for the UK the folly of not maximising its domestic gas supply from the North Sea. Qatari supply may have fallen as a share of UK imports in recent years, but the spillover to global demand for Norwegian gas and US LNG leaves the UK unnecessarily exposed. For a government that has made welcome (long term) progress this week on stable nuclear baseload, the inability to look at the short term security of supply from the North Sea looks like a grave strategic error.