Britain cannot become embroiled in a war “without a clear end point”, a former senior Nato commander has said, as he defended Keir Starmer after Donald Trump’s jibes that he was “not Winston Churchill”. Asked in a series of interviews on Wednesday morning about Trump’s comments, the chief secretary to the Treasury, James Murray, said: “The prime minister took the decision he did in the national interest. The prime minister said this week that HMS Dragon, a Type 45 Destroyer, was being sent to the region as the US-Israel war with Iran continues. A suspected Iranian drone hit the British base at Akrotiti overnight on Sunday, causing no casualties and what the Ministry of Defence described as “minimal damage”. Two more drones heading for Akrotiri were intercepted on Monday, according to the Cypriot government, while there was also a fresh alert on Wednesday morning.

Source: The Guardian March 04, 2026 11:41 UTC