Four extra British Typhoon fighter jets are being deployed to Qatar amid the conflict in the Middle East, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
Speaking at a press conference in Downing Street, the Prime Minister also announced that a Government-chartered flight from Oman to Britain has now taken off, after it was delayed from doing so overnight.
Sir Keir revealed he had chaired a Cobra meeting on Thursday, and acknowledged that people across the UK are “worried sick about their family and friends who are caught up in this”.
He added: “I want to reassure the British public about the action that we are taking while the region has been plunged into chaos.
“My focus is providing calm, level-headed leadership in the national interest.”
In an effort to build Britain’s military presence in the region, Sir Keir said four further fighter jets would be sent to the Middle East.
“I can announce today that we’re sending four additional Typhoon jets to join our squadron in Qatar to strengthen our defensive operations in Qatar and across the region,” he said.
Two Wildcat helicopters armed with drone-busting missiles will arrive in Cyprus on Friday, the Prime Minister said.
HMS Dragon, a type 45 warship, is also being deployed as part of the build-up, but is unlikely to arrive in the Mediterranean until next week.
The Prime Minister insisted the UK had been preparing for the possibility of conflict “long before” Israeli and US strikes began, by deploying “additional military capabilities to the region to defend our interests”.
He also defended against criticism from Donald Trump over the UK’s decision not to get involved in the initial strikes.
The US president said Sir Keir is no Winston Churchill, while the Prime Minister has also faced domestic criticism from his political opponents for failing to build a larger presence in the Middle East before the conflict began.
Sir Keir insisted the special relationship between the US and the UK had not been fractured by the disagreement, telling reporters: “Look, the special relationship is in operation right now.”
He added: “We’re sharing intelligence on 24/7 basis in the usual way. That is the special relationship.”
The Prime Minister would not be drawn into directly addressing a report by the Spectator magazine, which suggested Sir Keir had been open to allowing the US to use British military bases for the initial strikes on Iran.
The report claimed that Cabinet ministers – including Energy Secretary Ed Miliband – had urged him not to do so.
In response to a question from reporters, Sir Keir set out a timeline of discussions between the Government and the US.
He said: “No request from the US came in the specific terms that we acceded until Saturday afternoon, therefore on Friday there was no concrete decision to be made.
“A decision had to be made when we had the request, that came in on Saturday during the course of the afternoon – we were already taking measures in relation to our own capability – that came in on Saturday afternoon, late in the afternoon.
“We then, as you would have expected, went through the details with the US over the next day, and ultimately reached a decision on Sunday, which I announced then on Sunday evening, about eight or nine o’clock.”
The Spectator story represents a potential leak of highly sensitive information from the Government’s National Security Committee.
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