Donald Trump has told Sir Keir Starmer the US will "remember" Britain's delayed support for its Iran war. Photo / Getty Images
Donald Trump told Sir Keir Starmer that the United States does not need its “once-great ally” Britain to send aircraft carriers to the Middle East.
The US President said he “will remember” the lack of British support for his war with Iran in an intervention which risks cementing the collapse of the special relationship.
“The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,” he posted on his Truth Social platform.
“That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer – But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”
Trump made the remarks after it emerged the Royal Navy was preparing the HMS Prince of Wales, one of its two aircraft carriers, for possible deployment to the Middle East within five days.
His comments suggest that Britain may have formally offered an aircraft carrier to the US.
Elaborating on his remarks on board Air Force One on Saturday night (local time), Trump said: “We don’t need them, it would have been nice to have them two weeks ago.”
The crew of the HMS Prince of Wales was alerted and preparations were accelerated to ensure that the carrier was ready, should ministers decide that additional naval forces were required.
Trump last week described Starmer as “no Winston Churchill” for initially denying permission to launch strikes from the joint US-UK Diego Garcia base in the Chagos Islands.
It comes as Sir Tony Blair said Starmer should have backed Trump from the very beginning of the escalating conflict.
Blair said that when it comes to an ally that is an “indispensable cornerstone of your security, you better show up”, adding “they were [just] asking to use our bases for refuelling”.
The former Labour Prime Minister, who supported George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, said the current US President had a “pretty fundamental understanding of what the stakes are” in the Middle East.
At a private lunch on Friday (local time), Blair described the Iran war as “not like Vietnam” or the “Iraq campaign, [where we sent] in thousands of British troops”.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said a Merlin helicopter was also on its way to the region to bolster defences, following the deployment of Typhoons earlier this week.
John Healey, the Defence Secretary, is preparing to demand an emergency injection of cash from Rachel Reeves to cover the spiralling defence bill, the Telegraph understands.
The growing costs of deployment risk a row between the MoD and Treasury over spending.
It is likely to put him on a collision course with the Chancellor, who is already facing an energy price shock and rising borrowing costs.
Reeves had repeatedly resisted calls to increase defence spending, despite military chiefs warning of a £28 billion ($63.6b) shortfall in MoD finances.
A source familiar with relations between the Chancellor and Healey said: “We are flying jets, using up ammunition, we have got in Akrotiri in Cyprus, families who have been moved out of the base to accommodation to keep them safe elsewhere in the island.
“All these demands – kit and capability, more jets, Wildcats [helicopters], ships – all of this stuff costs money. Ultimately, our priority is the safety and security of British personnel. We are not having an argument about funding that will stop us getting on with things.
“Traditionally, there has always been a conversation with the Treasury when there is unforeseen stuff. I would imagine there will need to be a conversation.
“Ultimately, there has to be a decision at some point as the conflict continues, how we are going to deal with the resourcing.”
Officials also confirmed that the US had started using British bases for “specific defensive operations” aimed at preventing Iran firing missiles into the region, while the head of Britain’s Armed Forces said we are in “probably the most dangerous period” in decades. He said that “the demands on defence are rising”.
On Saturday (local time), it was disclosed that the security services were braced for a wave of Iranian cyber attacks on Britain, aimed at both civilian and government infrastructure.
“There have been concerns expressed at classified levels about Iranian cyber activity against the UK,” a Whitehall source said.
“There is increasing awareness of this and an increase in focus from the Government on the security side, ensuring we have got robust cyber defences in place.”
It will pile pressure on Starmer. Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, said he had become “hostage to the left wing of the Labour Party”.
She added: “Despite having a historic majority, he does not have the strength to push through difficult decisions.
“I’m very worried that Keir Starmer is not in charge of this Government. He’s just waiting for his back benches and the left-wingers in his Cabinet to tell him what to do.”
At a Jewish News event on Friday (local time), Blair said he had relayed his feelings to the Government.
He said: “I’m not saying anything to you that I wouldn’t and haven’t said to the Government. I think we should have backed America from the very beginning.
“They were asking us to use our bases for refuelling. It’s not like Vietnam. It’s not like, as we did in Iraq, sending in thousands of British troops.
“So I think you’ve got to make the argument to the public that this American relationship matters. It matters particularly today.
“It’s not a question of whether it’s this President, that President, if they’re your ally and they’re an indispensable cornerstone of your security, you better show up.”
Blair added that he thought Trump showed “a pretty fundamental understanding of what the stakes are” in the conflict, and had managed to form a successful alliance with Israel and Arab countries.
Even if Starmer does decide to increase British support of the US, questions remain over Britain’s ability to fund its own military operations.
The escalating war in Iran threatens to shrink the Chancellor’s fiscal headroom, decreasing her ability to cover rising defence costs.
As the conflict escalates, worries of an inflation spike and expectations that the Bank of England will keep interest rates on hold have caused government borrowing costs to rise at the fastest pace since the Liz Truss mini-Budget crisis.
The yield on 10-year gilts, a benchmark for the cost of servicing the national debt, rose from 4.23% to 4.69% this week. If borrowing costs remain at this level, it will wipe around £1.5b off the Chancellor’s fiscal headroom, economists believe.
High oil and gas prices could also force Reeves to further extend the fuel duty freeze or reinstate the energy price guarantee that subsidised household energy bills after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, putting further strain on public finances.
On Saturday (local time), the Iranian ambassador in London warned Britain to be “very careful” about becoming further involved in the war.
Seyed Ali Mousavi told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg his country would have a “right to self-defence” if the UK directly joined US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
He warned that Iran expected the British Government, and others, “to be very delicate, very careful” in their actions.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, the Chief of Defence, meanwhile rejected criticism that the military was ill-prepared for conflict in Iran.
“I’m enormously proud of the work of the Royal Navy – they’ve been working night and day to get [HMS Dragon] ready, get the ammunition on board, get the stores on board, and bring it out of its maintenance state so it’s ready to go within the next few days,” he said.
Downing Street sources pointed to Starmer’s remarks at a press conference last week where he said the “special relationship is in operation right now”, adding that there was “nothing controversial” about taking decisions he believed to be in the best interests of Britain.
An MoD spokesman said: “We have been bolstering our UK military presence in the Middle East since January, and we have already deployed capabilities to protect British people and our allies in the region, including Typhoons, F-35 jets, air defence systems and an extra 400 personnel into Cyprus.
“Since the strikes began, we’ve had British jets in the sky shooting down drones and have sent additional assets to the region to further reinforce our air defences, including more Typhoons and Wildcat helicopters with drone-busting missiles.
“HMS Prince of Wales has always been on very high readiness and we are increasing the preparedness of the carrier, reducing the time it would take to set sail for any deployment.”
Treasury declined to comment, but officials pointed out that there was an established process for meeting the cost of military operations.
They added that at the Spending Review, the Government announced a £270b investment in defence over this Parliament, reaching 2.6% of GDP in Nato-qualifying defence spending in 2027.
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