Starmer told ‘we are at war’ as MPs accuse him of ‘complacency’ on defence spending

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of “indifference” by senior MPs as he faces controversy over the UK’s lack of preparedness for war in the Middle East.

The Prime Minister clashed with both Labor and Conservative MPs during his appearance before the House of Commons Liaison Committee, made up of chairmen of parliamentary select committees; here he faced allegations that the United Kingdom was “at war”.

The appearance came before the prime minister chaired an emergency Cobra meeting on Monday afternoon to prepare for the war’s impact on the cost of living, while admitting he had failed to give MPs a timetable for an end to the conflict, despite Donald Trump’s declaration of a ceasefire.

But the concerns voiced strongly by MPs on the Liaison Committee were also reflected in an Ipsos Mori poll released just before Sir Keir arrived at the hearing on Monday, which found concerns about defense issues had more than doubled since last month.

Ipsos found that citizens concerned about the UK’s defense rose by 16 per cent to 31 per cent, putting the UK three places behind in the rankings of immigration and economic priorities.

Asked during a testy committee hearing how long he expected the conflict to continue, a bemused-looking Sir Keir said: “It’s hard to answer that question, if I’m honest about it.

“I think all of our focus and energy should be on de-escalation quickly, but we have to plan on the basis that this could continue for some time, and that’s how we’ll be planning this afternoon.”

At one point he became visibly angry when he was reminded that Winston Churchill did not need a defense review to run Britain’s defense in the Second World War.

The issue is a sensitive one for the Prime Minister, whom Donald Trump described as “there is no Winston Churchill”.

Asked later about the “rather rude” comments made by Mr Trump, Sir Keir said: “A lot of what is said or done is undoubtedly said and done to put pressure on me, I have no doubt about that. I understand what is going on. But I will not hesitate about it. I am the British prime minister and my job is absolutely to focus on the British national interest.”

When President Trump launched a war on Iran, the UK was also questioned about the absence of Royal Navy ships in the Mediterranean, amid questions about why it was not adequately prepared to protect its key bases in Cyprus.

In a particularly guarded exchange, former Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin suggested the government “lacks the war-fighting mentality” and claimed that defense decision-making has “an enormous whiff of complacency”.

He argued that the UK was “at war” and asked why “the government is not content with that”.

Sir Keir replied: “Because the strategic review commits us to a war footing and we now need to introduce funding to increase defense spending to 2.5 per cent, something that did not happen under the last government and was not presented with a credible proposal by your party at the election.”

But Sir Bernard pointed out that Winston Churchill carried out no defense reviews in the Second World War and argued that every government should take matters into its own hands from its predecessors.

But the prime minister hit back by blaming the previous Tory government: “This reflects the fact that years of disinvestment and ’emptying of our armed forces’ by the last government, copyright Ben Wallace.”

Sir Ben, the Conservative former defense secretary, once claimed the armed forces were “gapped and underfunded” while in government.

However, earlier, Labor chairman of the Defense Select Committee, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, had also harshly criticized the government for its lack of preparation for the Middle East crisis.

He said: “We were seeing reports that the US was significantly increasing its forces around Iran in preparation for an attack, but when they launched the war, it was a shame that we did not have a single naval presence in the region.”

Questions have been mounting since Iran launched drone strikes on Cyprus, with one hitting RAF Akrotiri base in the UK at the start of the conflict.

While the destroyer HMS Dragon was deployed, she had just reached the Mediterranean and needed six days of hasty preparations before she could sail. There were no other ships in the area.

The issue became embarrassing for the UK after the Greek and French governments deployed naval forces to defend Cyprus before the UK did.

Mr Dhesi also raised questions about in-year savings to the defense budget and sought assurances that the UK is on track to meet its commitment to spend 5 per cent of GDP on defense and security by 2034.

Pressed on when the landmark Defense Investment Strategy will be published, with the Prime Minister admitting there is a disagreement between the Ministry of Defense and the Treasury, Sir Bernard joined Sir Bernard, adding: “It’s my job to sort that out.”

Regarding the defense of the Cypriot bases, Sir Keir said: “We are constantly evaluating this and we have very effective ways to defend ourselves.

“I don’t want to raise the public’s anxiety levels. They’re already worried about what they’re seeing on their television screens. They’re worried about the economic impact this will have on them, especially in their homes. I don’t want to raise their anxiety levels either.”

“I can say that our military personnel, our security and intelligence services are literally working 24/7 to keep us safe and are doing a very good job of that.”

Sir Keir also told the Liaison Committee that Britain was “deploying UK airspace battle management experts to military commands” in the Middle East to defend against Iranian missile attacks, adding: “We are working with industry to deploy air defense missiles to Gulf partners. We are rapidly deploying short-range air defense systems to Bahrain. This was something that emerged as a pressing issue over this weekend and we are doing the same for Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.”