Britain must not become embroiled in a war “without a clear end point”, a former senior Nato commander has said, as he defended Prime Minister Keir Starmer after Donald Trump’s jibe that he was “not Winston Churchill”.
Gen Sir Richard Shirreff, who served as Nato’s deputy supreme allied commander Europe, said Trump was “another American president who had launched a war of choice” in Iran. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We have been here before with Iraq in 2004 and we don’t want to be going back again into a situation like that.”
The US president launched a deeply personal attack on Starmer over his refusal to let Washington use British bases for initial strikes on Iran. Trump told reporters on Tuesday: “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.” Starmer eventually agreed the US could use the Diego Garcia military base in the Chagos Islands for strikes on Iranian missile facilities.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury James Murray defended the prime minister, saying: “He’s approached this with a cool head, with a real clarity of purpose.” However, shadow chancellor Mel Stride told Fox News: “To have ended up in a situation where Donald Trump is really questioning the relationship he has with us is a serious situation.”
The prime minister said this week that HMS Dragon, a Type 45 Destroyer, was being sent to the region after a suspected Iranian drone hit the British base at Akrotiri in Cyprus overnight on Sunday, causing no casualties and minimal damage. Two more drones heading for Akrotiri were intercepted on Monday, with a fresh alert on Wednesday morning.
