Defence secretary accuses Tory and Reform MPs of ‘unpatriotic’ behaviour

Defence secretary accuses Tory and Reform MPs of ‘unpatriotic’ behaviour John Healey lambasts opposition politicians for seeking to turn Donald Trump and the US against Keir Starmer US-Israel war on Iran – live updates The defence secretary, John Healey, has accused opposition politicians of deliberately undermining the UK’s relationship with Donald Trump , saying it was “unpatriotic” for MPs to seek to turn the US against Keir Starmer. Healey, speaking to the Guardian at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, which was hit by a drone strike over the weekend, said he had been shocked at the way politicians like Nigel Farage had sought to “undermine” the UK’s relationship with the US. The Conservatives and Reform UK have criticised the British decision not to allow the US to use UK bases for offensive strikes against Iranian targets, though they will be used to help defend UK interests and allies in the region from Iranian retaliatory attacks. But Healey said he had been shocked by the extent to which senior MPs had sought to curry favour with the US president by undermining the position of the UK government – not just on the Iran attacks but also over the Chagos Islands deal. Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, and Farage, have both praised Trump for his opposition – albeit fluctuating – to the government’s Chagos plan, which the US president criticised when apparently frustrated with the UK over other issues. “For an elected British politician from the House of Commons , from Reform or from the Conservatives, to be going over to America … calling on President Trump to disown the deal we’d agreed and worked through to protect for the next 100 years our sovereign base and ability to operate out of Diego Garcia – it is unpatriotic, it undermines Britain and it is not the sort of leadership that British people should expect from elected politicians,” said Healey. “It looks like to me their intent is to undermine the British relationship with the US. That seems to be their intent, unpatri...