Cabinet ministers discussed whether cosying up to Donald Trump was a ‘good thing for Labour’ before rejecting his request to use British bases to bomb Iran, it emerged last night.
Ed Miliband, Rachel Reeves and Yvette Cooper are said to have urged Sir Keir Starmer to have nothing to do with the US assault on Iran while Labour was under growing pressure at home from Left-wing opponents such as the Greens.
Security sources said Mr Miliband took a ‘petulant, pacifist, legalistic and very political approach’ at a meeting of the National Security Council last Friday – the day before the US attack began, and just hours after Labour suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Greens in the Gorton and Denton by-election.
He and the Chancellor are said to have ‘made it quite difficult for the Prime Minister’, while Ms Cooper adopted the ‘cautious approach of the Foreign Office’.
The PM’s decision on whether the national interest required the UK to stay close to the US appears to have been coloured by considerations of Labour’s domestic problems.
A source said the discussion came down to the legality of the proposed action and whether ‘a positive relationship with the US was a good thing right now for the party’, adding: ‘Many people concluded that it was not.’
Insiders disputed claims that Sir Keir had floated the idea of letting President Trump use bases on UK territory before being blocked by fellow ministers.
The PM is said to have been on the receiving end of several ‘very angry’ phone calls from Mr Trump over the use of Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire to mount bombing raids.
But it is understood that he did not believe the action was lawful and that legal objections set out by his Attorney General Lord Hermer were made clear to the US days before the final decision.
In a partial U-turn, ministers have now said US planes can use British bases for the ‘limited’ purpose of mounting ‘defensive’ attacks against Iranian missile batteries threatening the region.
A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘We never comment on the content of National Security Council meetings.
‘The decision had the full support of the Cabinet, including all the members of the National Security Council.’
However, the revelations, reported by The Spectator magazine, are likely to further anger Mr Trump and raise fresh questions about whether Sir Keir is capable of rebuilding the special relationship with the US that underpins the UK’s security.
The White House hit back again at Sir Keir last night after he suggested Mr Trump’s attack on Iran was illegal and unplanned.
The PM took a rare swipe at the US President yesterday after Mr Trump publicly humiliated him by saying he was ‘no Churchill’.
The PM told MPs he was not willing to join military action without ‘a lawful basis and a viable, thought-through plan’.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt ‘completely rejected’ Sir Keir’s suggestion of illegality last night, saying President Trump believed Iran had posed an ‘imminent and direct threat’ to the US and its allies.
Sir Keir insisted the special relationship did not ‘hang on President Trump’s latest words’.
But Tory MP Gareth Bacon suggested the PM’s ‘dithering’ over the use of British bases had damaged relations with the US.
Sir Keir responded: ‘American planes are operating out of British bases – that is the special relationship in action.
‘British jets are shooting down drones and missiles to protect American lives in the Middle East on our joint bases – that is the special relationship in action.
‘Sharing intelligence every day to keep our people safe – that is the special relationship in action.
‘Hanging on to President Trump’s latest words is not the special relationship in action.’
Deputy PM David Lammy played down the row last night, but acknowledged that Labour’s £35billion Chagos Islands giveaway to Mauritius might have to be abandoned, telling ITV’s Peston show: ‘It’s just not clear at the moment whether we’re going to be able to transfer it.’
Last night Mr Trump said the US was in a very strong position on Iran, adding: ‘Somebody said, “On a scale of ten where would you rate it?” I said, about a 15.
‘We’re in very good shape. It’s a great display of military strength.’
