Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics.
The US president, Donald Trump, has said he is “very sad” to see that the UK-US relationship is “not what it was” after criticising Keir Starmer for taking “far too long” to allow US forces to use its airbases to attack Iran.
In a telephone interview with The Sun’s political editor Harry Cole, Trump, said:
double quotation markIt’s a different world, actually. It’s just a much different kind of relationship that we’ve had with your country before.
It’s very sad to see that the relationship is obviously not what it was.
Speaking to The Sun from the White House on Monday evening, Trump compared Starmer’s actions unfavourably with France’s support for the strikes and with the backing of the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte. “He has not been helpful. I never thought I’d see that. I never thought I’d see that from the UK. We love the UK,” he said.
Donald Trump and Keir Starmer shake hands as they hold a press conference at Chequers at the end of a state visit last September in Aylesbury, England. Photograph: Leon Neal/ReutersIn a significant and rare break from Washington on foreign policy, Starmer said on Monday that the UK did not believe in “regime change from the skies” as he defended his decision not to allow the use of UK bases for the initial wave of attacks.
But the prime minister said the situation changed on Sunday when Iran’s “outrageous” response became a threat to British people and British allies.
He has now agreed to the US request to use British military bases for “defensive” strikes on Iranian missile sites.
The Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, accused the government of being “too scared” to take a stronger stance against Iran as she claimed some Labour voters were “swayed by conflicts in the Middle East, not the British national interest”.
We will mainly be focusing on the UK political reaction to the rapid developments in the Israel-US war on Iran today, as the conflict spirals across the region with the Israeli military launching new strikes on Tehran and Beirut.
You can follow our business live blog to keep up with market reaction as the war drives up oil and gas prices after Iran expanded its retaliatory attacks on American targets in the Gulf region.
