In the last few days, Keir Starmer has agreed to let the US military use UK bases to conduct specific defensive actions against Iran, and the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales has been prepped to set sail from Portsmouth. Nevertheless, President Trump was scathing about Starmer, declaring, ‘This is not Winston Churchill we’re dealing with’, and yesterday telling the prime minister, ‘We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won’.

This morning on Sky News, Trevor Phillips asked Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp about former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace’s criticism of the government’s readiness to respond to the conflict in the Middle East. Phillips pointed out that defence cuts had occurred under the Conservative government. Philp said the UK does have ships capable of defending Cyprus, but they weren’t in the right place at the right time, even know the government ‘knew three or four weeks ago’ about the plan to strike Iran. Phillips suggested that there aren’t enough military assets to defend multiple areas at once, such as protecting the North against Russia, and that it was the Conservatives who reduced military assets. Philp argued that the two ships in discussion are currently doing nothing, docked at Portsmouth.

Yvette Cooper: ‘You have to focus on substance and not on social media posts’

Trevor Phillips also asked Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper how Starmer would react to the president’s criticism. Cooper said she’d learnt not to focus on social media posts. Phillips pointed out that these words didn’t come from ‘some bloke in a basement’. Cooper said the US president had to serve his own country’s interests, and Starmer would do the same. She said the UK and US security partnership ‘remains incredibly strong’, but that sometimes the two countries will ‘disagree’. Cooper also said the UK needed to learn lessons from what ‘went wrong in Iraq’, following Tony Blair’s comments that the UK should have backed the US more strongly from the start.

John Swinney: War with Iran ‘incompatible with the international rules based system’

In an interview with the BBC, Scottish First Minister John Swinney claimed that the US/Israeli attacks against Iran are ‘incompatible’ with international law, and that the conflict has created a ‘very difficult backdrop for the conduct of the UK government’. Swinney suggested that Starmer’s decision to allow the US to use UK bases for defensive actions might spiral out of control and involve the UK further in the conflict. Kuenssberg asked if Swinney would have prevented the Americans from using UK bases. Swinney said US use of the bases should be ‘very constrained’, and called for a focus on finding a diplomatic solution to the conflict. Kuenssberg asked if Swinney will stop the US military from using Glasgow’s Prestwick airport. Swinney said he is seeking clarity about the purpose of American flights coming in and out of Prestwick, and he would explore banning the use of the airport for flights that launch strikes in the Middle East.

Isaac Herzog: ‘We are doing this for the wellbeing of the entire free world’

Laura Kuenssberg also spoke to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, asking if he agreed with Donald Trump saying the war is effectively over. Herzog said he hadn’t heard Trump say that, but that the US president is expecting a ‘full surrender’ by Iran. Herzog said the Israel/US objectives were to stop Iran having nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, and claimed they were leaving it to the Iranian people to seize their ‘golden opportunity’ to bring about change. The Israeli President said anyone who ‘seeks freedom’ should ‘clearly support’ the actions of Israel and the US to stop Iran from ‘spreading terror and havoc all over the world’.

Iranian ambassador Seyed Ali Mousavi warns the UK to be ‘very careful’

The Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian has released a statement in which he apologises to neighbouring countries ‘that were attacked by Iran’. Iran declared they will only attack US or Israeli assets in neighbouring countries. On the BBC, Laura Kuenssberg asked the Iranian ambassador to the UK Seyed Ali Mousavi if Iran would stop attacking military bases outside of Israel in the Middle East. Mousavi said Iran would defend themselves ‘accordingly’ if the US or Israel used those bases to attack. Kuenssberg asked if British jets which shoot down Iranian drones are legitimate targets. Mousavi said the UK had not yet been involved in the US/Israeli ‘aggression’, and claimed the UK experience with Iraq means they know the ‘illegality’ of the US actions. The Iranian ambassador said his country is being ‘very delicate’ with its defence, and warned the UK to be ‘very careful’ with its own actions.

UN Humanitarian Chief Tom Fletcher: ‘We are seeing a sustained, attritional attack on the rule of law’

Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, UN Humanitarian Chief Tom Fletcher described the conflict with Iran as ‘a moment of grave, grave peril’, with unintended consequences that affect civilians across the Middle East. Fletcher said there are secondary impacts on other crises across the world, which slip down the list of priorities, and suggested that institutions such as the UN, ‘which are designed to prevent this kind of conflict’, are being undermined. Fletcher called for leaders to ‘step back from the brink’ and to listen to the UN, which he says was created after WWII because the world needs places to ‘settle our differences peacefully’.