Britain must not be drawn into a conflict “without a clear end point”, warned a former senior NATO commander, who also backed Keir Starmer after Donald Trump’s barbs that he was “not Winston Churchill”.
Trump was described as “another American president who has launched a war of choice”, Gen Sir Richard Shirreff said, while a minister maintained that the prime minister had acted “with a cool head” by refusing to permit British bases to host initial strikes.
The US president launched a personal attack on Starmer over his refusal to allow Washington to commence strikes on Iran from UK facilities, telling reporters at the White House on Tuesday: “This is not Winston Churchill we’re dealing with.”
In a further pointed remark, Trump expressed displeasure with the UK even though Starmer eventually consented to the US using the Diego Garcia base in the Chagos Islands for attacks on Iranian missile sites.
When questioned in a series of Wednesday interviews about Trump’s remarks, chief secretary to the Treasury James Murray replied: “The prime minister made the decision in the national interest.
“He approached it with a cool head, clear purpose, focus and a determination to do what is right for the British people.”
Shirreff, who served as NATO’s deputy supreme allied commander Europe, backed Downing Street’s stance, stating: “Britain must act in its own best interests.
“There is certainly a case for involvement, but we should not enter any operation whose final phase is undefined, lacking a clear strategy, especially when an American president has launched a war of choice without a clear view of its conclusion,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“We have seen this before in Iraq in 2004 and we do not wish to return to a similar situation.”
Opposition figures on the right seized on Trump’s criticism, with the Conservatives arguing that the prime minister’s position has made safeguarding the UK’s national interest more difficult.
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride told Fox News: “The lesson here is that in a volatile and dangerous world, allies matter, and none matters more to our country than the United States.
“To find ourselves in this predicament because of the way the prime minister has supported the US over Iran, while Donald Trump questions the relationship, is a serious issue.”
Stride also warned that the delay in a British warship reaching waters near RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus could prompt the Cypriot government to reassess the value of a British military presence on the island.
The prime minister announced this week that HMS Dragon, a Type 45 destroyer, was being dispatched to the region as the US‑Israel conflict with Iran continues.
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