‘We just don’t know what will happen,’ western officials say, as UK bases prepare for arrival of US heavy bombers
Britain has not ruled out participating in future strikes against Iranian ballistic missile launch sites, officials have indicated.
US heavy bombers are expected to reach UK bases at Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands and Fairford in Gloucestershire in the next few days, from where they are expected to attack Iran’s underground “missile cities”.
Continue reading...US president criticises prime minister for third time 24 hours, describing him as ‘not Churchill’ over initial refusal
Donald Trump has launched a deeply personal attack on Keir Starmer over his refusal to let the US launch initial strikes on Iran from British bases, telling reporters: “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”
In his latest extraordinary salvo, the US president said he was not happy with the UK even though the prime minister eventually agreed the US could use Diego Garcia for strikes on Iranian missile facilities.
Continue reading...Two more drones intercepted on Monday, authorities say, in what appears to be sustained targeting of base
A one-way attack drone – said to have been launched by Lebanon’s Hezbollah – struck the UK’s RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus at about midnight on Sunday, prompting a partial evacuation of the military facility.
Two more drones were successfully intercepted on Monday morning, the Cypriot authorities said, as part of what appears to be a sustained targeting of the base on the third day of the war in the Middle East.
Continue reading...Yvette Cooper says plans under consideration to evacuate about 300,000 Britons from Middle East amid Iran war
It is “simply not true” that the UK is being dragged into another Iraq-style conflict in the Middle East, Yvette Cooper has said, after an RAF base in Cyprus was struck by an Iranian drone.
The attack was part of a barrage of strikes by Tehran around the Middle East after a US-Israeli attack on Saturday that killed the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The UK foreign secretary confirmed ministers were considering possible plans to evacuate about 300,000 Britons from the region.
Continue reading...PM is in diplomatically precarious position of declining to endorse US strikes while also refusing to condemn them
It was perhaps naive of No 10 ever to position Keir Starmer as a “Donald Trump whisperer” capable of persuading the unpredictable US president to step back from reckless decisions.
The “special relationship” has been under severe strain in recent months over the UK’s decision to give up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands and the refusal of European countries to back Trump’s play for Greenland.
Continue reading...Prime minister calls together emergency committee to decide UK’s response to latest fighting in Middle East
Keir Starmer is chairing a meeting of the UK government’s Cobra emergency committee as Britain decides how to respond to the US-Israeli bombing of Iran, and Tehran’s retaliation against bases in the Gulf.
The UK did not participate in the first wave of strikes early on Saturday but had deployed RAF Typhoons to Qatar to protect the al-Udeid airbase in the country and other allied military facilities in the region.
Continue reading...Minister ‘misspoke’ by telling MPs UK was ‘pausing for discussions with our American counterparts’, officials say
Plans to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius are still on track, the UK government has insisted, after a minister caused confusion by telling MPs that the deal was “paused”.
Hamish Falconer, a Foreign Office minister and former diplomat, was speaking on Wednesday as the deal came under increasing pressure from opposition parties in the UK and from Donald Trump.
Continue reading...New date to approve site near Tower Bridge in London aligns with Keir Starmer’s planned visit to Beijing
The government has delayed its decision on whether to approve China’s super-embassy in London until January, when Keir Starmer is expected to visit Beijing.
Ministers are expected to greenlight the controversial plans after formal submissions by the Home Office and Foreign Office raised no objections on security grounds.
Continue reading...MPs warn axing FCDO’s migration and conflict directorate amid staff cuts risks undermining peace work and expertise
The Foreign Office has been warned that a plan to axe its dedicated unit on emerging conflicts and refugee crises is a “real error” that “undermines UK security” as the department grapples with swingeing cuts.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s (FCDO) migration and conflict directorate, which employs about 100 civil servants, is being abolished at the end of this year and its work subsumed by the rest of the department.
Continue reading...It would be expedient for Reform to take Labour’s advice and disavow ‘Putin talking points’
The discovery of a pro-Russian asset, Nathan Gill, at the heart of a British political party reads like the plot of a John Le Carré novel.
Russia was long known to have been trying to interfere in foreign politics with online bots and cyber-disinformation over the past decade.
Continue reading...On first official visit to UK, leaders say aim is not to ‘break the British Treasury’ but to find solution to help clean up ‘mess’ left by colonialism
The Caribbean’s slavery reparations body has decried misleading press reports that suggest their aim is to “break the British Treasury” by demanding trillions of pounds, as they call for a mutually beneficial restorative justice programme.
Prof Sir Hilary Beckles, chair of the Caricom Reparations Commission (CRC), which was set up to progress the Caribbean’s pursuit of justice for centuries of enslavement and colonisation by European nations, made the comments during the body’s first official visit to the UK.
Continue reading...Exclusive: British government adopted ‘least ambitious’ option months before RSF’s massacres in El Fasher
Britain rejected atrocity prevention plans for Sudan despite intelligence warnings that the city of El Fasher would fall amid a wave of ethnic cleansing and possible genocide, according to a report seen by the Guardian.
Government officials turned down the plans six months into the 18-month siege of El Fasher in favour of the “least ambitious” option of four presented.
Continue reading...Previous visa policy had forced the students ‘to choose between their education and their family’
Some Palestinian students taking up scholarships at UK universities will be allowed to bring their families with them from Gaza after the government announced it would consider case-by-case exemptions to its evacuation policy.
After lobbying by MPs and supporters, the UK government has said partners and children could be allowed to accompany students on government-backed Chevening scholarships or studying for longer research degrees, such as PhDs.
Continue reading...Defence secretary says UK will play ‘anchor role’ in US-led civil military coordination centre
British troops have been sent to Israel to help monitor the ceasefire in Gaza after a request from the US.
The defence secretary, John Healey, announced the deployment of a small number of planning officers, including a senior commander, at an event on Monday night. He said the UK would play an “anchor role”. Ten days ago the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, said the UK had “no plans” to send soldiers to Gaza.
Continue reading...National security adviser, education secretary and science minister to visit before end of year as part of policy to reset relations
Ministers are pushing ahead with their reset of relations with China, including several planned high-level visits before the end of the year, despite the furore triggered by the collapse of a high-profile espionage trial.
Plans have been drawn up for Jonathan Powell, the national security adviser, to travel to Beijing in November for talks before an anticipated trip by Keir Starmer next year.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here
Lindsay Hoyle starts by telling MPs that speakers from the parliaments in Fiji and Ukraine are in the gallery. And he says it is four years to the day since David Amess was murdered.
It’s PMQs. Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
Continue reading...Labour says Tory government at time failed to classify China as a threat, but plenty of evidence suggests the contrary
There is a baffling contradiction at the heart of the efforts of Dan Jarvis, the security minister, to explain why the prosecution of two Britons accused of spying for China collapsed last month. The problem, he insisted in front of MPs on Monday, was that “it was not the policy of a Conservative government to classify China as a threat to national security”.
Except there is plenty of evidence to suggest that China was recognised as a threat by the previous governments in documents and public statements by ministers and officials. All this makes the failure of the government witness – Matthew Collins, the deputy national security adviser – to set this out in three separate witness statements given to the prosecution even more surprising.
Continue reading...Bridget Phillipson says national security adviser was not involved in discussions before CPS abandoned its prosecution
The government’s national security adviser had no involvement in the prosecution being dropped against two British men accused of spying for China, a senior cabinet minister has said.
Jonathan Powell had no connection to discussions about the “substance or the evidence” of the case, Bridget Phillipson said on Sunday, adding that Keir Starmer had full confidence in him.
Continue reading...In an attempt to reset the relationship the government is refusing to describe China as a national security threat despite evidence to the contrary
Once, before the election, Labour’s approach to China was forthright. The party promised to declare China’s systematic repression of its Uyghur Muslim minority as a genocide. Its MPs united to support a genocide amendment to a 2021 trade bill, voting with Tory rebels and only failing to defeat Boris Johnson’s government by 11 votes.
But in the past week recriminations have swirled after the prosecution of two Britons accused of spying for China was dropped. A refusal by the government to describe China as a national security threat has reinforced Labour’s already softened approach to Beijing and sharpened focus on the figure at its heart: Keir Starmer’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell.
Continue reading...Ex-DPP Ken Macdonald says prosecutors may have been ‘over-fussy’ in seeking further assurances from government
Legal experts have questioned the explanation given by the Crown Prosecution Service for its sudden decision to drop charges against two Britons accused of spying for China amid a political row over who was responsible.
The expert lawyers expressed surprise that the CPS thought it needed further assurance from the government that China was an enemy insofar as it posed “a current threat to national security” before the trial of Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry could go ahead.
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