Cabinet ministers ‘blocked’ Starmer from allowing US to use British bases for attacks on Iran: report
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Cabinet ministers, led by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, have reportedly stopped Keir Starmer from allowing Donald Trump to use British air bases for his attacks on Iran.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood supported Miliband in opposing the prime minister granting the United States permission to use bases in Gloucestershire and the Chagos Islands for bombing raids in the Middle East, according to the Spectator.
Starmer, reportedly backed by Defense Secretary Jon Healey, wanted to allow Trump to carry out “defensive strikes” against Iran, but bowed to pressure from vocal opponents in his Cabinet.
Political journalist Tim Shipman wrote in
He said the Defense Ministry worked with its American counterparts and advised them on how to draft the request, and on Sunday afternoon the national security council gave the green light for the United States to launch “defensive strikes,” more than 24 hours after its first “preemptive strike” against Iran.
It comes after it was revealed that the US did not share exact operational details or timing with the UK ahead of joint strikes with Israel against Iran, sources told The Guardian.
The US decision to exclude the UK from the official airstrike circuit along with Keir Starmer’s decision to refuse permission for the US to use British military bases for the operation.
In other developments:
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John Healey has flown to Cyprus to calm diplomatic fallout over a drone that evaded detection and attacked an RAF base, angering local ministers. UK officials believe a drone that attacked an RAF base in Cyprus evaded detection by flying low and slow when it was launched by pro-Iran militia in Lebanon or western Iraq.
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Up to 21,000 asylum seekers who have waited for a year for their claims to be processed could enter the labor market to support themselves, the Home Office said, as part of a package of measures to be announced on Thursday. As the government attempts to empty asylum hotels, applicants who break the law, work illegally or are determined to have enough assets to live without support will be expelled from June and lose their support payments.
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One of three men arrested on suspicion of spying for China is David Taylor, husband of a Labor MP. Joani Reid, MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven, told Sky News in a statement: “I have never seen anything that would make me suspect that my husband has broken any law. I am not part of my husband’s business activities, and neither I nor my children are part of this investigation, and media organizations should not treat us as if we were.”
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Andy Burnham has reignited hostilities with Keir Starmer’s Labor leadership, criticizing what he described as the “bankruptcy” of the party’s approach to the campaign, a week after he lost the previously safe seat of Gorton and Denton. The Greater Manchester mayor and former MP, seen as a rival to Starmer, said Labour’s campaigning style prevented him from connecting with non-Labour voters and other progressive parties, while evoking the system of clipboard-wielding canvassers going door-to-door with records of former Labor supporters.
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The BBC will call for an end to political appointments to its board as part of sweeping changes designed to protect its independence. The corporation will also demand that its royal charter be made permanent in a bid to end the existential threat of having to negotiate with ministers over its future every ten years.
