Politics latest: First UK evacuation flight from Middle East delayed as Starmer defends Trump relationship

According to information obtained by the Press Association, Defense Minister John Healey is going to Cyprus in the middle of the war between Iran and the USA.

Mr Healey is expected to arrive on the Mediterranean island later on Thursday.

Britain’s RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus has been the target of drone attacks since the start of the war.

A government minister has denied reports that Sir Keir Starmer faces a cabinet revolt over the first US strikes on Iran.

Reports Audience Ed Miliband claimed that Rachel Reeves and Yvette Cooper strongly opposed Britain’s support for US military action in Iran.

The Prime Minister is said to have supported them before changing his mind 48 hours later.

However, in a report Audience Sir Keir initially suggested he believed there was a case for the US using UK bases, but Downing Street denied this.

On Thursday morning, Border Security Minister Alex Norris said the news was “not true.”

“What is true is what is already public and what Keir has made clear to parliament and the nation,” he said Sky News.

The government was also criticized for not having an adequate military presence in the Middle East region following the drone strike of RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.

Air defense destroyer HMS Dragon will be sent to the Eastern Mediterranean to help protect Cyprus, but the Type 45 warship is not expected to sail until next week.

Sir Keir said Wildcat helicopters with anti-drone features would be on the Mediterranean island this week.

He emphasized that the action was taken in response to increasing tensions in the region before the war began.

Cyprus’ high commissioner to the UK, Kyriacos Kouros, said the deployment of HMS Dragon was welcomed but stated that it would take “more than a week” to arrive.

Asked whether the UK was acting with sufficient urgency to protect people living in and around the bases, he told Sky News: “There is already a presence of Greek forces on the island. Two frigates have arrived, four aircraft have arrived, all capable of combating drones.”

“The French are coming. So… we expect at least the British to be there too, because as I said, we are not just defending the Cypriots on the island.”

When Cyprus’ high commissioner to the UK appeared disappointed by Britain’s action in defending the island, Mr Norris insisted the Government was taking the war between Iran and the US “extraordinarily seriously”.

Home Secretary Alex Norris added: “This is a momentous situation, one with profound implications for our nation.

“We acted quickly here. We will continue to work with our partners in the region on collective self-defense.”

Sir Keir told MPs the special relationship with Washington would continue after the US president lashed out at his initial refusal to allow British bases to be used for raids on Iran.

After Mr Trump said the Prime Minister was “no Winston Churchill”, Sir Keir said the bond with the US was not about “sticking to President Trump’s latest words”.

He defended his decisions on the use of UK bases and said the country must act “clearly, purposefully and calmly”.

In response to Iranian retaliatory actions, Sir Keir gave the US permission to use British bases for the limited purpose of attacking missile launchers and infrastructure, but RAF jets were not involved in striking Iran.

US bombers have not yet used Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean or RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, but Britain is ready to accept them and they are expected to arrive within the next few days, Western officials said on Wednesday.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said the UK and US were “close allies” but the US had chosen a “different path”.

He told ITV’s Peston: “The US has chosen a different path and we have made an assessment, and that is the correct assessment, of not putting UK troops in an aggressive situation that does not meet the legal threshold that we have set at home.”

Heathrow Airport’s arrivals gate was abandoned in the early hours of Thursday morning as many stranded Britons had never left Muscat, thinking they would land at around 4am.

Independent The government’s first repatriation flight from the Middle East is expected to reach a crowd waiting for their families and friends to return.

Instead, we arrived at a nearly empty airport and were met with a small number of airline staff just starting their day.

This is perhaps in stark contrast to Muscat International Airport, where Britons are scrambling to get back home.

An anonymous passenger who was due to board the repatriation flight described the situation as chaotic.

There was no information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as to why the plane did not take off, and staff at both Heathrow and Muscat International Airport were unable to provide any updates.

While British Airways’ flight from Muscat will land at Heathrow around 8.15am on Thursday morning, passengers who will board the government-chartered plane may now wish they had flown commercially.

The passenger told Sky News that the plane would take off on Wednesday after the pilot had rested.

Our correspondent Athena Stavrou reports:

A government minister has explained why the UK’s first evacuation flight from the Middle East failed to take off last night.

Border Security Minister Alex Norris said “delays in boarding passengers” were part of “operational reasons” for the chartered plane not departing from Muscat as planned last night.

“There were a lot of commercial flights yesterday,” he told Sky News.

“We chartered a flight from Oman, which could not leave last night due to operational reasons. We expect it to depart today.”