dailynewsnblog
Cabinet ministers ‘blocked’ Starmer from letting US use British bases for Iran strikes – report
Hello and welcome to the UK politics live blog.
Cabinet ministers, led by energy secretary Ed Miliband, blocked Keir Starmer from allowing Donald Trump to use British airbases for its attacks on Iran, it has been reported.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves, foreign secretary Yvette Cooper and home secretary Shabana Mahmood rallied behind Miliband to oppose the prime minister granting the US permission to use bases in Gloucestershire and the Chagos Islands for bombing runs to the Middle East, according to the Spectator.
Starmer, reportedly backed by defence secretary Jon Healey, wanted to allow Trump to carry out “defensive strikes” against Iran but bowed to the pressure of vocal opponents in his cabinet.
The political journalist Tim Shipman wrote on X this morning that the US first made the request on 11 February but attorney general Richard Hermer advised that “his would be a breach of international law and Britain cannot facilitate, let alone participate”.
He said that the Ministry of Defence worked with and advised its US counterparts on how draft the request and, by Sunday afternoon, the national security council gave the green light for US to launch “defensive strikes” – more than 24 hours after its first “pre-emptive strike” on Iran.
It comes after it was revealed that the US did not share exact operational details or timings with the UK before the joint strikes with Israel on Iran, sources have told the Guardian.
The US decision to cut the UK out of the official loop on the airstrikes alongside Keir Starmer’s decision to decline 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 the diplomatic fallout over a drone that evaded detection and hit an RAF base, which has prompted fury from local ministers. UK officials believe a drone that hit an RAF base in Cyprus evaded detection by flying low and slow when it was launched by pro-Iranian 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 be allowed to enter the jobs market so they can support themselves, the Home Office has said, as part of a package of measures to be announced on Thursday. As the government seeks to empty asylum hotels, claimants who break the law, work illegally or are found to have enough assets to live without support will from June be ejected and lose their support payments.
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One of the three men arrested on suspicion of spying for China is David Taylor, the husband of a Labour MP. Joani Reid, MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven, told Sky News in a statement: “I have never seen anything to make me suspect 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 we should not be treated by media organisations as though we are.
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Andy Burnham has reignited hostilities with Keir Starmer’s Labour leadership, criticising what he described as the “bankruptcy” of the party’s approach to campaigning, a week after it lost the previously safe seat of Gorton and Denton. The mayor of Greater Manchester and former MP, regarded as a rival to Starmer, said Labour’s campaigning style prevented it from connecting with non-Labour voters and other progressive parties, as he evoked the system of clipboard-wielding canvassers going door to door with records of previous Labour supporters.
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The BBC is to 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 put on a permanent footing in an attempt to end the existential threat posed by having to negotiate with ministers over its future every 10 years.
Key events
Defence secretary John Healey has arrived on Cyprus, the Press Association has reported.
Healey has travelled to the island amid criticism from Cypriot officials over how Britain has acted to defend it from drone attacks linked to the war in the Middle East.
UK officials believe a drone that hit an RAF base in Cyprus evaded detection by flying low and slow when it was launched by pro-Iranian militia in Lebanon or western Iraq.
But an investigation has been unable to establish conclusively where the Shahed-type drone was launched from. The attack occurred during the Iranian retaliatory bombardment over the weekend after the US and Israel launched a wave of strikes on Iran, killing the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Badenoch says Britain should join US offensive action against Iran
Kemi Badenoch has said the UK should take offensive action against Iran after UK bases were attacked.
“We need to do what we can to stop the ability for these attacks to take place,” the Tory leader told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“I think that we should look at what our allies in the region are saying. Even if we’re not talking about Iran, Cyprus feels that we have not been helpful. It is extraordinary that Bahrain and Kuwait in the UAE are publicly criticising us…
“They think that we’re abandoning them.”
She continued:
If your principle is, we will only wait until we are attacked rather than dealing with imminent threats properly, then we will be in a lot of trouble.
Asked about concern over her enthusiasm for British involvement in the bombing of Iran, Badenoch said:
Being realistic is not gung ho. I don’t want a wider war.
But sometimes the best way to de-escalate a situation is to try and finish it quickly, rather than let it drag out because you don’t want to get involved.
Cabinet ministers ‘blocked’ Starmer from letting US use British bases for Iran strikes – report
Hello and welcome to the UK politics live blog.
Cabinet ministers, led by energy secretary Ed Miliband, blocked Keir Starmer from allowing Donald Trump to use British airbases for its attacks on Iran, it has been reported.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves, foreign secretary Yvette Cooper and home secretary Shabana Mahmood rallied behind Miliband to oppose the prime minister granting the US permission to use bases in Gloucestershire and the Chagos Islands for bombing runs to the Middle East, according to the Spectator.
Starmer, reportedly backed by defence secretary Jon Healey, wanted to allow Trump to carry out “defensive strikes” against Iran but bowed to the pressure of vocal opponents in his cabinet.
The political journalist Tim Shipman wrote on X this morning that the US first made the request on 11 February but attorney general Richard Hermer advised that “his would be a breach of international law and Britain cannot facilitate, let alone participate”.
He said that the Ministry of Defence worked with and advised its US counterparts on how draft the request and, by Sunday afternoon, the national security council gave the green light for US to launch “defensive strikes” – more than 24 hours after its first “pre-emptive strike” on Iran.
It comes after it was revealed that the US did not share exact operational details or timings with the UK before the joint strikes with Israel on Iran, sources have told the Guardian.
The US decision to cut the UK out of the official loop on the airstrikes alongside Keir Starmer’s decision to decline permission for the US to use British military bases for the operation.
In other developments:
-
John Healey has flown to Cyprus to calm the diplomatic fallout over a drone that evaded detection and hit an RAF base, which has prompted fury from local ministers. UK officials believe a drone that hit an RAF base in Cyprus evaded detection by flying low and slow when it was launched by pro-Iranian militia in Lebanon or western Iraq.
-
Up to 21,000 asylum seekers who have waited for a year for their claims to be processed could be allowed to enter the jobs market so they can support themselves, the Home Office has said, as part of a package of measures to be announced on Thursday. As the government seeks to empty asylum hotels, claimants who break the law, work illegally or are found to have enough assets to live without support will from June be ejected and lose their support payments.
-
One of the three men arrested on suspicion of spying for China is David Taylor, the husband of a Labour MP. Joani Reid, MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven, told Sky News in a statement: “I have never seen anything to make me suspect 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 we should not be treated by media organisations as though we are.
-
Andy Burnham has reignited hostilities with Keir Starmer’s Labour leadership, criticising what he described as the “bankruptcy” of the party’s approach to campaigning, a week after it lost the previously safe seat of Gorton and Denton. The mayor of Greater Manchester and former MP, regarded as a rival to Starmer, said Labour’s campaigning style prevented it from connecting with non-Labour voters and other progressive parties, as he evoked the system of clipboard-wielding canvassers going door to door with records of previous Labour supporters.
-
The BBC is to 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 put on a permanent footing in an attempt to end the existential threat posed by having to negotiate with ministers over its future every 10 years.
