PM is standing up for UK interests, says Cooper after Trump criticism

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has said Sir Keir Starmer is "right to stand up for Britain's interests" after Donald Trump intensified his criticism of the prime minister's response to the Iran conflict.

In a social media post, the US president said the UK was considering sending aircraft carriers to the Middle East but appeared dismissive of the move, writing: "We don't need people that join Wars after we've already won!"

The UK aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales has been placed on advanced readiness but Cooper would not confirm whether it would be sent to the region.

Responding to Trump's rebuke, Cooper said the UK government would not agree with the president "on every issue".

Speaking to Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, she said: "It's for the US president to decide what he thinks is in the US national interest, and that's for him to do.

"But it is our job as the UK government to decide what's in the UK national interest, and that doesn't mean simply agreeing with other countries or outsourcing our foreign policy to other countries."

The UK did not join initial US-Israel strikes on Iran but subsequently gave permission for the US to use British bases to conduct defensive strikes.

It has also sent RAF jets to the region to shoot down missiles and drones fired by Iran at UK allies.

On Friday, former Labour Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair - who led the UK into the Iraq war in 2003 - told a private event that the UK should have backed the strikes from the beginning.

He said the US was an "indispensable cornerstone" of the UK's security, and that allies should "show up" regardless of who the current president is.

Cooper, who was a junior minister in Sir Tony's government when the UK joined the US invasion of Iraq, said it was "important to learn lessons from what went wrong" in that conflict.

She said that included "recognising that all our decisions need to be about what is right for British citizens".

The foreign secretary said "there are some people in politics who think we should just unquestioningly agree with the US whatever" while others "think we should never agree with the US" or "go along with joint action" but that neither was the right approach.

Appearing on the same programme, the Iranian ambassador in London warned the UK to be "very careful" about becoming further involved in the war.

Seyed Ali Mousavi said "if facilities or properties or bases are used against the Iranian nation", they would be considered "legitimate targets".

Reform UK's Robert Jenrick said his party did not think the UK should take part in offensive bombing raids over Iran but argued that the government should have let the US use UK bases "from the outset".

He told Kuenssberg that the "vacillation of the PM has damaged relations with the US significantly".

Speaking to Sky News, Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused the government of "a dereliction of duty" by failing to move warships to Cyprus or the Middle East ahead of the conflict.

"The problem is, those ships as we speak, are nowhere near Cyprus. They're nowhere near the Gulf," Philp said.

"They're tied up at the docks in Portsmouth because Keir Starmer and the Labour government showed no foresight whatsoever, even though they knew three or four weeks ago that America planned this action against Iran, they did not move those ships into the region."

Earlier this week, a small drone struck runway at RAF Akrotiri, causing what the Ministry of Defence said was "minimal damage".

The Liberal Democrats have urged the government to "avoid getting sucked further into this illegal and damaging war".

HMS Dragon - which has air defence capabilities - is currently in Portsmouth but is being sent to the Mediterranean to bolster security around the RAF base in Akrotiri in Cyprus. It is not expected to set sail until next week.

Asked if the UK had been slow to respond to the conflict, Cooper said the UK had "pre-deployed" fighter jets to the region along with 400 additional personnel.

She said that since the conflict had begun, the government had deployed additional typhoon fighter jets and Wildcat helicopters.