Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The “special relationship” between Britain and the United States remains intact and they continue to share intelligence, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on March 5, after US President Donald Trump rebuked him for hesitating to support US strikes on Iran, reported Reuters.
After initially refusing to allow the United States to use British bases for the US-Israeli campaign, Starmer has come under personal attack from the US President, who said the British leader was “not Winston Churchill”.
Speaking at a press conference, Starmer defended his decisions both to withhold initial access to bases, and then to participate in “defensive” operations against Iran, once Tehran had responded by attacking its neighbours. “The special relationship is in operation right now,” Starmer said. “We are working together in the region, the US and the British working together to protect both the US and the British in joint bases, where we’re jointly located and we’re sharing intelligence on a 24/7 basis in the usual way.”
Starmer has also faced criticism for his cautious response from other allies in the region, including Cyprus where an Iranian-made drone hit one of Britain’s military bases on the island.
Starmer has also faced criticism for his cautious response from other allies in the region, including Cyprus where an Iranian-made drone hit one of Britain’s military bases on the island. He has also faced criticism at home, including from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, a right-wing Trump supporter, who has accused the Prime Minister of dithering.
“What Keir Starmer has done in alienating the American administration is not to just put that relationship personally at stake, but frankly to risk a relationship with a country without whom we are defenceless,” he told Reuters .
