Sir Keir Starmer has been criticised for his inability to prepare and mobilise Britain’s defences ahead of the Iran war, with his decision branded as “extraordinary”.Speaking to GB News, Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat declared he is “baffled” as to why the Prime Minister failed to have the appropriate defence assets in the region to “protect our citizens and our allies”.The Prime Minister is facing mounting criticism for his delay in deploying HMS Dragon to Cyprus, following an attack on UK base RAF Akrotiri.Expressing his dismay at the lack of protection for British personnel, Mr Tugendhat told GB News: “My take is pretty simple – we may not have agreed with the initial decision to strike, that’s an American and Israeli decision.
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“But I see absolutely no reason why we didn’t have assets in the region, why we didn’t have Type 45 destroyers in the region to protect our citizens and our allies. It’s baffling to me.”The former Security Minister stressed that Sir Keir was aware of the looming conflict for “three to four weeks” prior to any attacks.He stated: “We have one of the world’s most capable air defence systems, and that’s the Type 45 – and yet we have six of them, and all six are in the UK. It’s extraordinary.”Challenging Mr Tugendhat, host Ellie Costello highlighted that the lack of defence funding and capabilities is “partly the responsibility of the Conservatives” and their 14 years in Government.Accusing Ellie of playing “party politics”, Mr Tugendhat responded: “This is an argument that I’ve been making for many, many years. I’ve argued that we need to be increasing our defence budget to three per cent for the best part of the last ten years.”And so I get your point, it’s an argument that people have made, but welfare spending and hospitals and other things have demanded more on people’s attention, and I understand why.”Arguing that the Labour Government has failed to deploy the six destroyers the UK does have, he reiterated that all our assets are “still in Portsmouth”.He added: “There’s absolutely no reason that they couldn’t have been deployed two weeks ago or four weeks ago, and had they been ordered to sail, then they would be there by now. LATEST DEVELOPMENTS’Embarrassing!’ Keir Starmer torn apart by Grant Shapps for ‘pathetic’ handling of Iran warEd Miliband spearheaded Labour rebellion to US action in Iran after pushing ‘pacifist’ caseKeir Starmer over the barrel on Gibraltar as bombshell report blows lid on EU ‘surrender’ clauses”Now, this is a real problem, and it’s not just about the United States. We can all focus on what President Trump says, and he makes his views very clear, but there are many voices that we’re not hearing, or at least not hearing publicly.”Noting that the UK has “incredibly important allies” in the Middle East as well as the US, the Tory MP explained: “We have the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, who we have relations with that have lasted hundreds of years in various different ways. “And they’re asking themselves, why on earth would I have a British base in my country if the British base isn’t even able to protect me? “Now, that’s a real problem, because we need to demonstrate that we’re friends to our allies, because if we’re not, then we lose influence. We lose reach, and eventually we lose the ability to protect ourselves.”Following the confirmation of its deployment, Royal Navy warship HMS Dragon is not expected to reach Cyprus for a fortnight.Government officials have also said the Type 45 destroyer will not leave Portsmouth for another week as it undergoes maintenance before deployment to the eastern Mediterranean.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.”
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