DEFENDING THE NATION

SIR KEIR Starmer has found himself somewhere between a rock and a hard place over the war in the Middle East, but there’s one thing he got wrong, writes James Knuckey.

- By Conor Wilson and James Knuckey

It feels like the Prime Minister has been in a lose-lose, damned if you do, damned if you don’t scenario regarding this conflict and many political opponents have looked to capitalise.Whether you believe the UK should have joined the US-Israeli attacks on Iran or undermined our “special relationship” with Washington is a debate for another day.

However, questions are rightly being asked over our readiness to protect RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus and what this says about the state of our armed forces. The key airbase was struck by a Shahed-type drone, which Cypriot officials believe may have been launched from Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.

Additional air defences, radar systems and jets had already been deployed to the base weeks earlier, but it is the decision not to send a Type 45 destroyer which is looking like a mistake.

The £1billion apiece Royal Navy warships deploy among the world’s most advanced air defence systems.

They have already proven themselves in similar theatres, with HMS Diamond previously downing drones and a ballistic missile fired from Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen.