Trump says Starmer is 'no Winston Churchill' over Iran strikes

President Donald Trump has told reporters Sir Keir Starmer is "no Winston Churchill" in the row over the refusal to permit the use of UK bases for the initial US-Israel strikes on Iran.

The US had sought to use the military base in Diego Garcia on the Chagos Islands, but the PM refused, only agreeing to the US request to use British military bases subsequently for "defensive" strikes on Iranian missile sites.

Speaking to journalists in the Oval Office, Trump said he was "not happy with the UK" over the decision, which led to US planes "flying many extra hours".

Royal Navy warship HMS Dragon has been now sent to bolster security at a British air base in Cyprus, after it was hit by drone strikes.

On Sunday, the UK agreed to the US request to use British military bases - likely to be RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and Diego Garcia - but following that decision, the prime minister told MPs the UK government "does not believe in regime change from the skies".

"President Trump has expressed his disagreement with our decision not to get involved in the initial strikes, but it is my duty to judge what is in Britain's national interest," he told MPs.

The situation changed on Sunday when Iran's "outrageous" response became "a threat to our people, our interests and our allies", the PM said.

Iran's retaliation to the US and Israeli attacks had threatened British people across the Middle East, prompting the decision to allow the bases to be used to hit Tehran's missile infrastructure, he said.

Calling Sir Keir's decision on the bases "shocking", Trump said: "That island that you write about, the lease....for whatever reason, he made a lease of the island. Somebody came and took it away from him and it's taken three or four days for us to work out where we can land.

"It would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours. So we are very surprised.

"This is not Winston Churchill that we're dealing with."

Trump went on to criticise UK government policy on energy and immigration, before adding "this is not the age of Churchill".

Earlier on Tuesday, the president criticised the PM to the Sun newspaper, saying: "It's very sad to see that the relationship is obviously not what it was", adding that Sir Keir had "not been helpful", adding he "never thought I'd see that from the UK".

Lord Darroch, former British ambassador to the US during Trump's first term, said the comments were "pretty brutal", adding there was "obviously a serious rift there now".

"Trump is very unhappy about that denial of British airbases and I think that anger will hang around for a while.

"There have been in history ups and downs between No 10 and the White House - not many quite as brutal as this in terms of the language the president has used."

However, he cautioned that this was an "impulsive and unpredictable" president and he said "some of the bedrock of the special relationship is still there" in terms of the military and intelligence cooperation being "as close and effective as ever".

He added the pair are likely to get past the disagreement because "in the end there's business needs to get done between London and Washington and we need a functioning relationship to do it".

There was no immediate reaction to the broadside from Downing Street, where aides insist Sir Keir has acted in the British national interest, with a sense of where British public opinion is.

Treasury Minister Torsten Bell told BBC Radio 4's PM programme that "on the ground" the US and UK were continuing to work closely together and that "what's most important is that in practice, we're seeing that cooperation happen".

He said that while the UK had taken a different view to the US, he said he believed "most of the country supports the prime minister in that".

"We're really clear about what we're saying, we're saying - we don't support trying to deliver regime change from the air, but we are going to do what's necessary to protect British nationals."