Politics
Tony Blair Slams Keir Starmers Stance On Iran Conflict
Tony Blair has criticised Keir Starmer for not backing Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iran.
The former prime minister said the UK should have been on America’s side “from the very beginning”.
His comments, at a private lunch hosted by the Jewish News, are a further blow to Starmer in the wake of his ongoing spat with Donald Trump.
Starmer turned down the US president’s initial request for US jets to use British bases to launch bombing raids alongside the Israelis in Iran.
He only changed his mind after Iran began bombing countries across the Gulf region, putting up to 300,000 British lives at risk.
Blair, who faced huge criticism for taking the UK to war in Iraq alongside the US in 2003, said: “I am not saying anything that I haven’t already said to the government. I think we should have backed America from the very beginning.”
He added: “We have got to be very clear about this as a country. We’re depending on the American alliance for our country. They are not just an ally, they are an indispensable ally, right?
“Every single time you test an alliance you never test it when things are easy. You test it when it’s hard. They were asking to use our bases to refuel. It’s not like it was in Vietnam, not like the Iraq campaign where we had thousands of British troops.
“The American relationship matters. It matters particularly today. It’s not a question of whether it’s this president or that president. If they are your ally and they are an indispensable cornerstone for your security, you had better show up.”
On the criticism Starmer has faced for allowing US jets to use British bases, Blair said: “People always complain. The problem for a leader is when you decide you divide. Of course it’s difficult.
“In the end, most of the MPs will know that going into the election it’s going to be decided on different things.”
He added: “On foreign policy, I think people would just prefer you to be strong and out there and clear, even if they don’t agree with you.”
Trump tells Starmer: We don’t need your aircraft carriers
“Donald Trump told Sir Keir Starmer that the United States does not need its “once great ally” Britain to send aircraft carriers to the Middle East. The US president said he “will remember” the lack of British support for his war with Iran in an intervention which risks cementing the collapse of the special relationship. “The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,” he posted on his Truth Social platform. “That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer – But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!” – Sunday Telegraph
- Starmer told help not needed even as US uses UK bases for Iran strikes – Observer
- Special relationship in tatters – Mail on Sunday
- Trump takes another shot at Starmer – Sun on Sunday
- UK preparing aircraft carrier for possible Middle East deployment – Observer
- British strikes on targets in Iran would be lawful, says deputy prime minister – FT
- Trump says Iran being ‘decimated’ as Gulf states hit with wave of strikes – Observer
- Trump vague on Iran’s ‘unconditional surrender’ as he refuses to rule out US troop deployment – Observer
- Flames engulf Iran after devastating US and Israeli strikes against regime’s oil depots – Mail on Sunday
- Iran in flames after US and Israeli strikes – Sunday Express
- Cypriots call for Britain to leave military bases – Sunday Telegraph
- Russian tech found in drone that hit RAF base in Cyprus – Sunday Times
- Badenoch slams ‘clueless’ idiots mourning death of the Ayatollah – Sun on Sunday
- Kurds desperate to invade Iran… if they get Trump’s jets – Sunday Telegraph
- Israel targets Iranian commanders in Beirut hotel strike – Sunday Telegraph
- Britain must rearm – but Reeves is busy battling the Ministry of Defence – Sunday Telegraph
- Britain has just two days of gas as Middle East flow runs dry – Sunday Telegraph
Comment
Blair rebukes Starmer for not backing Trump on Iran
“Tony Blair has rebuked Keir Starmer for his lack of support for Donald Trump’s war on Iran, telling the Prime Minister: ‘We should have backed America from the very beginning’. Amid mounting diplomatic tensions between London and Washington over the conflict, Sir Tony warned his successor as Labour leader: ‘If they are your ally and they are an indispensable cornerstone for your security… you had better show up’. The former Prime Minister’s dramatic intervention comes after President Trump described Sir Keir as ‘not Winston Churchill’ for initially denying him permission to launch strikes on Iran from UK territory, including the joint-US base on Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands.” – Mail on Sunday
- Starmer’s help too late, says Trump, as Blair joins criticism – Sunday Times
Labour accuses Badenoch of scoring ‘cheap political points’ over Iran strikes
“Labour has accused Kemi Badenoch of scoring “cheap political points” after the Conservative party leader said Keir Starmer was “too scared” to join strikes on Iran. Al Carns, the defence minister, said “serious politics” was required in response to Badenoch’s speech at the party’s spring conference where she criticised the prime minister’s stance on the US-Israel strikes on Iran a week ago. Initially, Starmer did not allow the US to use UK RAF bases for the attack, and did not take part in initial military action against Iran, but then said the RAF would take part in defensive operations. A strike by an Iranian drone hit an aircraft hangar at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. Badenoch told the Conservative’s spring conference in Harrogate, North Yorkshire: “At a time when Britain needs strong and decisive leadership, we have a prime minister who is too afraid of making the wrong decision, too afraid to make any decision at all.” – Observer
Lammy faces defeat by rebel MPs over jury trial curbs
“David Lammy faces defeat in the Commons over his plans to curb jury trials unless he reverses his position, rebel Labour MPs have warned. Leaders of the rebellion over the Justice Secretary’s plans to scale back jury trials say they already have nearly 80 Labour MPs ready to vote against the Government unless he offers concessions. The Courts and Tribunals Bill, which would enact the changes, is due to go before the Commons for its second reading on Tuesday. Most of the rebel MPs are expected to abstain or offer support on the condition that Mr Lammy accepts compromise amendments to the bill as it progresses through Parliament.” – Sunday Telegraph
Badenoch plans reshuffle ‘to stop rising star Lam defecting to Reform’
“Kemi Badenoch is poised to make a ‘root and branch’ revamp of the Tories’ top team in her first major reshuffle as party leader. In a sign of her growing confidence, Ms Badenoch is understood to be planning to remove ‘dead wood’ opposition Cabinet ministers holding up the party’s renewal. Frontbenchers said to be most at risk include Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride, Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel and Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp. Young MPs will be promoted to energise the battered Tory brand based on ‘social media clicks’. But there are also claims that Ms Badenoch is reshuffling now to stop at least one rising star from defecting to Nigel Farage’s Reform. Party insiders said that she will try to ‘buy off’ Weald of Kent MP Katie Lam with a promotion, as she is now on ‘defection watch’. – Mail on Sunday
- UK will never be strong with Labour’s ‘political pygmies’ – Sun on Sunday
Other political news and comment
- Mahmood’s truths must be heard as the soft left calls us all racists – Robert Colvile, Sunday Times
- Labour poised to raise energy bills to save Britain’s factories – Sunday Telegraph
- Labour’s VAT raid will kill off cathedral schools, says Armstrong – Sunday Telegraph
- Labour blunder as MoD posts video of secret facility in Ukraine – Mail on Sunday
- Veterans charity accused of ‘forcing out tenants’ before Labour’s landlord curbs – Sunday Telegraph
News in Brief
Roz Savage was elected as Lib Dem MP of the new South Cotswolds constituency at the 2024 general election (Alamy)
8 min read
Liberal Democrat MP Roz Savage speaks to Matilda Martin about why she became a record-breaking ocean rower, how the breakdown of her marriage liberated her, and why she would like to see Ed Davey’s party have a strategy for coalition
The idea of standing for Parliament first arose in conversation with environmentalist and then Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith, now a peer, while the pair were working to make the 2012 London Olympics free of plastic bags.
Roz Savage’s instinct was to dismiss it: “That’s an appalling idea. Why would anybody in their right mind want to do that?”
The conversations she went on to have with MPs to test the waters confirmed her suspicions. “I decided there was pretty much nothing about being an MP that I would enjoy. But, like I say, I’m not necessarily optimising for enjoyment,” the Liberal Democrat MP tells The House.
Asking herself whether she made the right decision in becoming an MP would be, she thinks now, a waste of time. She has long prioritised making herself useful over feeling comfortable.
Savage, 58, was a management consultant for almost 11 years before deciding that she had chosen the wrong path. Her epiphany was gradual.
To break a few rules, to do a few things that you shouldn’t do, was very liberating for me
The daughter of two Methodist preachers, she recalls growing up in a family with little money. She believes it was this that led her to buy into Thatcherism and go straight into an office job after she graduated from Oxford with a law degree in 1989.
“For the last six or seven years I was in that job, I wanted to do something that felt more purposeful, to feel like I was making the world a better place in some way.”
Savage sat down and wrote two versions of her own obituary – the one that she wanted and the one that she saw herself heading for. “Writing those two obituaries was the ‘holy crap’ moment of, ‘I’ve been just barking up the wrong tree about what I want to do with my life’.”
Savage’s marriage was breaking down at that time. “Up until that point, I’d been very conventional and even very conformist. I was a good girl and played by the rules, and I know my parents were very disappointed when my marriage ended. But to break a few rules, to do a few things that you shouldn’t do, was very liberating for me.”
This hunger for a change in direction culminated in Savage becoming the first woman to row solo across the world ‘s “Big Three” oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian. Her first ocean row was across the Atlantic, beginning in November 2005. The trip took 103 days.
Sitting in her Portcullis House office today, Savage reflects that 13 March will be the 20th anniversary of her arrival into Antigua.
Amusingly, Savage declares herself “not really an oceans person”, preferring the mountains and the forest. It was a trip to Peru that first inspired her love of nature. Why, then, did she choose to embark on a solo row across the Atlantic Ocean?
Being able to row is about one per cent of what it takes to row across an ocean
The idea, she recalls, came from a chance meeting with former Tory MP Dan Byles, who had rowed across the Atlantic with his mother in 1995. “When he was telling me about their Atlantic crossing, I just thought, ‘That sounds bloody miserable.’ I couldn’t really see why anybody would want to do it.”
But she tucked the idea away nonetheless and later decided – in the spirit of pushing herself out of her comfort zone – that this would be the perfect project to raise awareness about the environment.
She was not a stranger to the sport, having rowed at Oxford – an experience that was “enough to give me the delusion that this was something I had a chance at succeeding in”.
“But as it turns out, being able to row is about one per cent of what it takes to row across an ocean. It’s much more about seamanship and not going crazy – just not giving up.”
Though Byles advised her to wait, Savage embarked on her voyage across the Atlantic after just 14 months of training.
The row was far from straightforward: Savage had to contend with four broken oars, a broken stereo, broken camping stove, a broken satellite phone and tendonitis in her shoulders. This was also the year, 2005, of Hurricane Katrina and what Savage describes as “the stormiest year ever on the Atlantic”.
“At the time, I was just really pissed off. ‘Come on, Mother Nature, I’m out here as your champion and you’re just beating me up every single day!’” But she feels she learned more than she would have done otherwise and says the grumpiness has been traded in for gratitude.
Savage did not raise money for charity for the row: “I felt like the earth didn’t need our money. She needed our respect, so I was just doing it more to get the message out there.” She admits that it is difficult to measure her success in raising awareness but hopes she has added “my few grains of rice” to help tip the scales.
Savage does worry today about the tide turning against net-zero and climate change. “I suppose I have to be somewhat philosophical, that even if we do hit a Trump-sized or a Reform-sized road bump, there will then be a counter-reaction against that.”
After completing a doctorate and penning a book, the death of the late Queen in 2022 was what finally prompted Savage, inspired by Elizabeth II’s 70 years of service, to stand for Parliament. The decision was not taken lightly.
Rowing across the Atlantic was harder than becoming an MP, Savage reckons, but she draws parallels between the two.
“Once you’re out in the middle of an ocean, you very quickly pass the point of no return, a bit like being an MP,” she muses. “Once you’re there, you’re there, whether it’s because people have voted for you or because you’ve got winds and currents pushing you away from Africa and towards the Caribbean. And you’ve pretty much just got to hang on in there and figure out how you’re going to survive this experience without going crazy.”
“A lot of the work here, you just chip away at it, especially being in the third party. We often don’t get to set the agenda,” Savage says.
As Lib Dems, we really should have a strategy
Using another rowing metaphor, perhaps a hangover from her stint as a public speaker before joining Parliament, she adds: “Those incremental, almost imperceptible steps, just one oar stroke at a time, you just keep doing what you can to make a tiny bit of progress in the right direction, and hope that it is adding up to something.”
Savage chose to stand for the Lib Dems after reading three different manifestos – theirs, the Greens’ and Labour’s. “Spot the absentees,” she points out. Even now, Savage says she is “not political”. She rarely attends Prime Minister’s Questions in the Chamber, and one of her “big frustrations” is “tribalism” in Parliament.
Would Savage be open to a Lib Dem coalition with, say, Labour? “I know the official party line would be: no, we’re not even thinking about coalitions,” she replies.
But Savage’s personal view is different. “As Lib Dems, we really should have a strategy, because in the last 18 months, we’ve gone from being really a two-party system to being a four- or five-party system.”
The Lib Dems have been “badly burned by a coalition before”, she says, but ultimately they “need a plan” for this situation.
Since delivering a record-breaking 72 seats in summer 2024, leader Ed Davey has struggled to keep the faith of many of his MPs, who have many grumbles about the direction of the party, or its lack thereof.
Does Savage think Davey is the best leader for the Lib Dems? “I can’t say anything about that on the record,” Savage smiles, adding: “He delivered a fantastic result in 2024.” She adds: “He’s a very good and decent man.”
Who does she align with in the party? “I’m a green Lib Dem. I would say that I’m a bit more to the left of the party, although I don’t really like the left-right axis. I try and move away from that because I feel like liberalism is a bit of a different axis.”
She begins by naming a select few favourite colleagues before listing more and more.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for all of my colleagues, but some of us have got slightly different political views. Definitely, some have got more right-wing views than I do.”
On her arrival in the Commons, Savage was one of the lucky MPs to top the Private Members’ Bill ballot, and championed the Climate and Nature Bill. While she laments its fate as “kind of dead in the water” after the government’s “no”, she is positive that it inspired several commitments.
One was ratifying the global oceans treaty, a celebration of which Savage attended the night before our interview. She sports ombre blue acrylic nails to match.
While Savage left the ocean many years ago, are there any more rows on the horizon? “Oh, God, no,” she laughs. Are those oars hung up forever? “I think so.”
What does her obituary look like now? Is she happy with it? “If I was taken out tomorrow, I would feel like I have leaned into that fantasy version.”
We’re weeks away from the clocks springing forward here in the UK – it’ll happen at 1am on Sunday, March 29.
Here, it always falls on the last Sunday in March. After that, British Summer Time, usually shortened to BST, begins.
But if your calendar has been telling you to prepare for earlier wake-ups sooner than that, it might be because it’s set to the US’ daylight saving times (DST) schedule.
When do the clocks go forward in the US and the UK?
This year, the US DST period starts on 2am Sunday, March 8, in most of the US (parts of Arizona and Hawaii don’t follow the same DST schedule).
That’s weeks before the UK’s BST begins, on Sunday, March 29.
Why do US and UK clocks go forward on different dates?
In both countries, the clocks going forward at all is a relatively new phenomenon.
Though America’s Benjamin Franklin first called for something like DST in 1784, UK builder William Willett was to furst to popularise it here.
But in the UK, it took until 1916 for us to adopt a form of BST. And we didn’t do that until the Germans did it first – we took up the policy weeks after them.
The US followed suit with DST after it joined the First World War. This came into place on March 31, 1918. Both the UK and US followed DST and “double summer time” during the Second World War, too.
In the postwar years, though, the US’ use of DST became less unified; some places observed it, and others didn’t. The UK also toyed around with BST.
But in 1996, the EU decided that too many differing time zones were inconvenient and expensive. So member countries, including, at the time, the UK, all took on the last Sunday in March as the date clocks went forward.
And while US law had said DST should be state-wide in 1966, it was only after the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that US DST was moved forward by about a month, starting in 2007.
Since 2007, the US DST time has started a couple of weeks before the UK’s and Europe’s, and has ended a week or so sooner, too.
Are daylight savings bad for us?
Heart attacks and accidents rise at the start of DST, some researchers say.
That’s part of the reason why some in both the EU and the US have called for their countries to abandon daylight saving time.
For now, though, our different dates remain.
This article features advice from Gee Eltringham, a Bristol-based psychotherapist and founder of parental support platform for ADHD, twigged.
Neurodiversity Celebration Week begins on 16 March this year, with an aim to challenge stereotypes and misconceptions about neurological differences.
If you’ve not really come across the term ‘neurodiversity’ before, you might be left scratching your head over what exactly it means – especially as it’s very similar to ‘neurodivergent’. Some people might even use the two interchangeably.
But they are different, and SEN psychotherapist Gee Eltringham says it’s important we get these terms right for the sake of our kids “because labels are powerful”.
Here’s her breakdown of what they mean.
Neurodiversity: the whole flock
“Neurodiversity is the big-picture concept. It describes the natural variation in how human brains think, learn and process information,” says Eltringham.
Just like biodiversity refers to the variety of living things on Earth, neurodiversity refers to “the variety of human minds”, she explains.
“It is not a diagnosis. It is not a label for one type of person. It is the umbrella term that recognises difference as natural.”
If we use a bird analogy here, she suggests neurodiversity is every kind of bird: flying birds, birds that swim, birds that stay on land. They are all part of the same group.
Neurotypical: the most common pattern
“Neurotypical describes people whose brain development and processing style align with what society expects and designs for,” continues the therapist.
“In our bird analogy, these are still birds. They have wings, feathers and beaks. In this version of the story, they are the birds that fly. They represent the ‘standard’ model that most systems are built around.”
But there is nothing superior about this group, she adds. It’s just the most common reference point.
In the human world, schools, workplaces and public systems are usually designed with neurotypical processing in mind.
Neurodivergent: diverging from the standard
“Neurodivergent means a brain that diverges from what is considered typical. Not better. Not worse. Just different,” says Eltringham.
Research suggests that around 15-20% of people are neurodivergent.
“In our bird world, these might be the birds that do not fly long distances. It could include the birds with webbed feet who swim, or the birds with talons who hunt, or the ones that do not fly at all. They may live out at sea rather than on land. They are all still birds. They simply function differently,” she explains.
If someone is neurodivergent, they might have ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia or Tourette’s syndrome.
“Each represents a different way of processing information, managing attention, regulating emotions or interacting socially,” says the therapist.
“The difference is not about deficit. It is about divergence. Because if the world only had one type of bird it would be a very boring world indeed.”
What’s neurodiverse then?
According to Cambridge Dictionary, some people might use ‘neurodiverse’ to describe a group of people with different types of brain (for example, “we are a neurodiverse family”).
Others, meanwhile, might use neurodiverse as a way to describe someone who is not ‘neurotypical’ (ie. “I am learning every day from my neurodiverse child”).
Why it’s important to get these terms right
The therapist points out that when children are not understood as neurodivergent, they are often labelled anyway. “Lazy. Disruptive. Odd. Difficult. Those words stick. And over time, children can start to believe them,” she explains.
But when we use the word neurodivergent, it changes the story. “It tells us that a child’s brain works differently, not wrongly. That understanding does not excuse behaviour, but it helps explain it. And when we understand behaviour, we can put the right support in place,” she adds.
“These words are now used in schools, workplaces and the media. They create a pause. A reminder that someone’s brain may process the world differently. That pause builds empathy.
“But awareness is not enough. We also need curiosity and understanding. Because neurodivergent does not mean everyone is the same.”
Coming back to her bird analogy, she explains that red kites, ostriches and hummingbirds are all birds. Yet they are all very different. An ostrich will never fly, for example, and a hummingbird will certainly never run like an ostrich.
“When we understand that, we stop trying to make every bird fly in the same way,” she says. “That is where real understanding begins. And that is where celebration of diversity can grow.”
It may have been over six years since Game Of Thrones aired that divisive finale, but in that time, the show has continued to dominate the pop culture conversation.
Over the last few years, several spin-off projects have been released, with even more in the pipeline, including the franchise’s first ever big-screen adaptation.
As the sprawling world of Westeros only continues to expand, here’s a quick guide to what fans can expect from the Game Of Thrones universe…
First off, what’s all this about a Game Of Thrones movie?
In early March 2026, Page Six reported that a Game Of Thrones feature-length film was “in the works”, which was later “confirmed” by The Hollywood Reporter.
Little is known about the film so far, other than that the script is being written by Beau Willimon, best known for his work on the TV series House Of Cards and the Star Wars off-shoot Andor.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, the movie is being “envisioned as a mammoth, Dune-sized feature film”, which will centre around Targaryen dynasty founder King Aegon I, and his conquest of Westeros.
When is House Of The Dragon back for season 3 (and who is in the cast this time around)?
Hopefully, fans shouldn’t have too long to wait until their next fix of House Of The Dragon.
There were two years in between seasons one and two, and with production wrapping in the early autumn of 2025, the new episodes are expected to hit our screens later this year.
Joining series regulars Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke and Rhys Ifans in the upcoming episodes will be newcomers James Norton, Tom Cullen, Tommy Flanagan and Dan Fogler.
Barry Sloane, Joplin Sibtain and Annie Shapero will also be playing new characters in the much-hyped third season.
Showrunner Ryan Condal also recently shared that the prequel series, set centuries before the events of Game Of Thrones, will come to an end after its fourth run.
Is there going to be a season 2 of A Night Of The Seven Kingdoms?
Those who enjoyed seeing a more irreverent and comedic side to the Game Of Thrones world has reason to get excited – A Night Of The Seven Kingdoms has been renewed for a new season.
Filming is already underway on the new episodes, which will feature Lucy Boynton, Babou Ceesay and Peter Mullan as new characters, and are rumoured to be premiering in 2027.
HBO executive Francesca Orsi also claimed that the US broadcaster is eyeing a three-season run for this latest Game Of Thrones spin-off.
What about any other new Game Of Thrones spin-offs?
In November 2025, Thrones creator George R.R. Martin teased: “Apart from A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms and House Of The Dragon, there are other Game Of Thrones spin-off projects in development.
“The majority are prequels, and there are several in development – maybe five or six shows. And I’m not developing them alone, I’m working on them with other people.”
He added that these shows also include “a sequel or two”.
One of these was Aegon’s Conquest, though this would have followed a similar storyline to the recently-revealed feature-length film, so it’s safe to assume this is no longer moving forward.
There have also been two animated series teased in the past, titled The Golden Empire and The Sea Snake, while 10,000 Ships is another proposed live-action prequel, centring around the warrior queen Nymeria.
Which planned Game Of Thrones spin-offs have been shelved or abandoned?
Even before House Of The Dragon was made, a Game Of Thrones spin-off set 10,000 years before the main show was piloted, starring the likes of Naomi Watts, Naomi Ackie, Jamie Campbell Bower and Miranda Richardson.
However, HBO ultimately decided not to go ahead with this series.
Meanwhile, a spin-off about Game Of Thrones hero Jon Snow was also widely rumoured, but during an interview in 2024, Kit Harington claimed he’d “backed out” of the project.
“What I can tell you is it was HBO that came to me and said, ‘Would you consider this?’,” he told British GQ. “My first reaction was no. And then I thought there could be an interesting and important story about the soldier after the war.
“I felt that there might be something left to say and a story left to tell in a pretty limited way.”
Ultimately, though, he noted that “nothing got us excited enough” to justify keeping on with the series, so he made the decision to pull away to avoid “end[ing] up with something that’s not good”.
Oh, and is George R.R. Martin going to be writing any more Game Of Thrones books?
It’s now been 15 years since the most recent instalment in George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Fire And Ice series, which served as the original inspiration for Game Of Thrones.
Two final books, The Winter Of Winds and A Dream Of Spring, are still thought to be in the works.
In April 2025, the author described the daunting prospect of completing The Winter Of Winds as “the curse of my life”, but insisted he’s “still working on it”, with various TV commitments proving to be a distraction.
Meanwhile, in some good news for fans, the 77-year-old has reiterated several times that his books will have a different ending to the Game Of Thrones series,.
As recently as January 2026, he said one of his biggest regrets was that the last books in his series “aren’t done yet”.
The US president described Britain as “our once great ally” as he told the prime minister that America doesn’t need the two Royal Navy aircraft carriers due to be sent to the Gulf.
He added: “We will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won.”
Trump’s comments, in a post on Truth Social, are another shattering blow to the so-called “special relationship” between Britain and America.
The president said: “The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East. That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer — But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”
Trump has been furious with Starmer ever since he turned down his initial request for US jets to use British bases to launch bombing raids alongside the Israelis in Iran.
Starmer changed his mind las Sunday after Iran began bombing countries across the Gulf region, putting up to 300,000 British lives at risk.
Zarah Sultana, Zack Polanski have condemned Starmer as American B-1 bombers have refuelled in the UK. Starmer granted permission for the US to use British bases on Sunday, March 1, 2026, days before the bomber arrived.
The B-1 bomber landed at RAF Fairford on Friday evening, according to the BBC. It is a US base.
Polanski shared a post by GB News saying the first of several American B-1 heavy bombers landing at RAF Fairford saying that they should not be allowed to do that. “Over 1000 civilians dead already after illegal war started by the US and Israel — and all this with no vote in the UK parliament about our role,” he said.
These aircraft should not be allowed to land on British Soil.
Over 1000 civilians dead already after illegal war started by the US and Israel – and all this with no vote in the UK parliament about our role. https://t.co/hWzBGwura8
— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) March 6, 2026
Zarah Sultana MP also shared the news, accusing Starmer of gaslighting the public by claiming the UK isn’t at war while American bombers use British soil to bomb Iran
American B-1 bombers are landing on British soil before flying off to bomb Iran, yet Keir Starmer gaslights the nation by claiming the UK isn’t at war.
These aircraft are dropping 2,000lb bombs on schools, hospitals and homes in Iran, where the death toll has already surpassed… pic.twitter.com/btrDZXp0Fd
— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) March 7, 2026
Declassified news also shared the news of the bombers on UK soil saying: “Even Britain’s national media are giving the public notice of the UK’s government complicity in the imminent mass bombing of Iran.”
Even Britain’s national media are giving the public notice of the UK’s government complicity in the imminent mass bombing of Iran. pic.twitter.com/DB2hSPsEeT
— Declassified UK (@declassifiedUK) March 7, 2026
Martin Curtis on Declassified pointed out that nothing about the bombers was defensive, as the UK Government has insisted that its role is “defensive.”
US B-1 bombers are arriving at Fairford.
They “carry the largest conventional payload” in the USAF and “deliver massive quantities of precision and non-precision weapons against any adversary, anywhere in the world”.
Great for defensive operations. https://t.co/Wv6W2prz7N
— Mark Curtis (@markcurtis30) March 7, 2026
Protest marches against illegal US war
A demonstration is also underway outside RAF Fairford on Saturday, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) posted on X.
Demonstration is also underway outside RAF Fairford, the US base in Britain used by long-range bombers. https://t.co/hhJ98AX2Yz
— Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (@CNDuk) March 7, 2026
CND was also at the London protest on Saturday saying:
Today’s demonstration against the illegal US and Israeli attacks on Iran is about to begin. Rally will be at the US Embassy, where we’ll be calling for an end to the nuclear hypocrisy and for Keir Starmer to stop allowing the use of British bases.
Today’s demonstration against the illegal US and Israeli attacks on Iran is about to begin. Rally will be at the US Embassy, where we’ll be calling for an end to the nuclear hypocrisy and for Keir Starmer to stop allowing the use of British bases. #NoWarOnIran pic.twitter.com/PGQQW7bDPq
— Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (@CNDuk) March 7, 2026
From the streets of London to the gates of RAF Fairford, the message is clear: stop using British bases to bomb Iran.
Featured image via the Canary
Lockheed Martin and other companies like Northrop Grumman took to X today to announce they’re quadrupling munitions production, but not before offering some gushing tributes to Trump, Hegseth, and Feinberg.
In a Truth Social post being shared around by these military companies, President Trump boasted about a “very good meeting” with the CEOs of the biggest defense companies about munitions production.
The meeting included the heads of the UK’s BAE Systems, Boeing, Honeywell Aerospace, L3Harris Missile Solutions, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. He said they will meet again in two months.
You are war profiteering monsters. https://t.co/3FLlNcv032
— CODEPINK (@codepink) March 7, 2026
Nathan J Robinson, editor of Current Affairs condemned their killing of school girls.
dead kids are great for business https://t.co/I8y1mQdlRy
— Nathan J Robinson (@NathanJRobinson) March 7, 2026
Ryan Grim of Dropsite News sarcastically thanked the military company for its patriotic duty.
Lockheed selflessly and patriotically agrees to quadruple its production. What would we do without our military industrial complex? 🔥❤️🦅🇺🇸 https://t.co/uc3StHeL9f
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) March 6, 2026
Jackie Walker said that all war was a profit equation for capitalism.
Of course they are! All war is a profit equation for capitalism. We need to control the demons before they destroy us all https://t.co/AdBMHOqN7I
— Jackie Walker – HRH, MP, MBE, ABC (@Jackiew80333500) March 7, 2026
US’s other major military company, Northrop Grumman made an almost identical tweet.
We are proud to be part of the President’s focus on speed and investment to deliver military strength for our nation. Thank you for your leadership President @realDonaldTrump, @SecWar Hegseth and Deputy Secretary Feinberg. https://t.co/QqrNQzyNpK
— Northrop Grumman (@northropgrumman) March 6, 2026
Apart, from expressing horror for the destruction these bombs create, people were also calling bullshit.
Podcast Carl Zha said that the US had no plan.
They’re desperate.
There’s no plan https://t.co/7XhuICXCzI
— Carl Zha (@CarlZha) March 6, 2026
Time magazine reported that the war with Iran is burning through U.S. weapons stockpiles so fast it’s raising concerns from Ukraine to Taiwan about whether there’s enough left to defend against Russia and China.
From Washington to Ukraine to Taiwan, there’s growing concern that Iran is draining U.S. supplies of weapons relied on by U.S. allies. https://t.co/qOPobJ0FHl
— TIME (@TIME) March 4, 2026
Time Magazine said
When the U.S. ramped up its weapons shipments to Ukraine to fend off Russia’s invasion, it drew down from existing stockpiles and didn’t increase spending on industrial production enough to fill the hole, says Katherine Thompson, a former Pentagon official at the beginning of Trump’s second term who is now a defense expert at the Cato Institute.
When Biden and Congress approved massive weapons shipments to Ukraine, those bills blew through a previous $100 million limit on raiding U.S. stockpiles to transfer weapons to allies, Thompson says. “To be fair to the Trump Administration, they inherited this problem from mass draw downs of U.S. stocks,” she says.
Reuters also reported US looking for critical minerals — need for making munitions and other military hardware, before US began the illegal war on Iran.
Pentagon sought fresh supply of 13 critical minerals day before Iran attack https://t.co/06eX7vc26u https://t.co/06eX7vc26u
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 4, 2026
Andrew Gawthorpe of Leiden University said the U.S. and its allies might run out of air defenses before Iran runs out of airborne projectiles.
The exact size of missile defence stocks is classified. But a look at budgetary and procurement data suggests that US forces will become stretched within a matter of days or several weeks at the very most. At that point, the US will have to begin drawing down missile defence stocks from the rest of the world.
A day before the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, the Pentagon quietly asked mining companies to help boost domestic supplies of 13 critical minerals used to make semiconductors, weapons, and other military products.
The request, reviewed by Reuters, went out last Friday to members of the Defense Industrial Base Consortium, a group of more than 1,500 companies and universities that supply the military. The deadline for proposals is March 20.
The list includes arsenic, bismuth, gadolinium, germanium, graphite, hafnium, nickel, samarium, tungsten, vanadium, ytterbium, yttrium and zirconium.
So, Lockheed Martin’s love letter on X might just be a cover for the Pentagon quietly scrambling to secure the materials needed to actually build the weapons they just promised to quadruple.
Featured image via US Army
The US press is attempting to manufacture consent for the US army to invade Iran.
A Washington Post article, dated Saturday, 6 March, states that the US army has:
abruptly canceled a major training exercise for the headquarters element of an elite paratrooper unit.
Which is:
fueling speculation within the Defense Department that soldiers specializing in ground combat and a range of other missions may be sent to the Middle East as the conflict with Iran widens.
The article goes on to state that the 82nd Airborne Division, an elite paratrooper unit which specialises in ground combat and other “fraught missions”, will attempt to take Kharg Island, in the Persian Gulf.
The island is one of the most “strategically sensitive points in the global oil network.” It has a loading capacity of around 7m barrels per day.
At times, around 90 per cent of the nation’s oil exports have passed through Kharg. Pipelines connect the island to offshore oilfields in the Persian Gulf, as well as major oilfields on the Iranian mainland
Only last week, Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s press secretary, said that sending US ground troops into Iran wasn’t part of the current plan. However, she was not going to remove one of Trump’s options.
US and the second coming of Christ
However, on the ground, reports suggest that the government has activated far more military units than they’d like the public to know.
Phone has been ringing off the hook. A LOT more units have just been activated for deployment than the public knows about… https://t.co/qax3F23lwM
— Mike Prysner (@MikePrysner) March 6, 2026
One US soldier told their parent they were going “boots on the ground” before losing access to all communications. His commander had told him they were going to bring the “second coming of Christ”.
I just spoke with the mother of a service member in this unit. They were given one last call home before having to turn in their phones. He told his mom the were going “boots on the ground” tonight. pic.twitter.com/3OCupSfp9Q
— Mike Prysner (@MikePrysner) March 7, 2026
Of course, this has not been confirmed by official sources — but it appears that the US is preparing to invade.
I was part of the buildup to invasion of Iraq. What I’ve heard today from troops & families is so reminiscent of Feb-Mar ‘03. Doesn’t prove the US is invading, but that they are definitely preparing to. Will they? Probably weighing many factors… and our resistance is one of them
— Mike Prysner (@MikePrysner) March 7, 2026
Now, we are watching media outlets on both sides of the Atlantic manufacture consent for a ground invasion of Iran. This is exactly what we saw in 2003 with Iraq.
From the Washington Post and the BBC, quoting a UK military source who said it was:
probably the most dangerous time of the last 30 years
To Sky News, talking about the potential deployment of an aircraft carrier to the Middle East.
The media is doing exactly what Western politicians and Benjamin Netanyahu want them to do. Create the illusion of a huge and endemic threat to Western civilisation that only murdering muslims will solve.
What they want you to believe
Israel is carpet bombing Iran and southern Lebanon. Meanwhile, the establishment media pushes the narrative that Israel is only targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon, a bunch of “Islamist militants”.
What they don’t want you to know is that Hezbollah was only formed in 1982, in resistance to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Israel is literally the reason Hezbollah exists.
Yet Israel, the US, the UK and the entirety of the corporate media want us to believe that they’re terrorists who hate the West, instead of resistance fighters who have watched Israel systematically destroy the homes and lives of people in the region for over 60 years.
Now, media outlets on both sides of the ocean are about to let politicians continue and expand Netanyahu’s illegal regime, which is nothing but a colonialist, terrorist conquest.
Feature image via euronews/ YouTube
War enthusiast and former Tory minister ghoul Penny Mordaunt appeared on Channel 4’s The Last Leg last night. And she got owned in a clip that would surely go viral were it not for Channel 4’s screen recording block that prevents even fair-use clipping. Fear not, we worked around it.
As the show neared its end, Mordaunt must have thought she’d successfully negotiated the potential pitfalls. But Irish comedian Vittorio Angelone was having none of that. As Mordaunt plugged her interests, Angelone praised her for her commitment to the prosthetics industry by promoting arms sales — and then it got even better. Bear with the hiss at the beginning, it only lasts a few seconds and it’s subbed to make it easier. Enjoy:
The clip triggered delighted discussions on Reddit and a stream of mockery on X even though people couldn’t share clips:
Penny fucking Mordaunt on The Last Leg, that’s the worst booking since Graham Poll showed Josip Šimunić a third yellow card
— Chris (@CEtchingham77) March 7, 2026
@vittorioangelon Just saw you v Penny Mordaunt on the last leg.
Marry me.
— Kate (@ThisIsKateL) March 6, 2026
The absolute icon and renowned demon @vittorioangelon calling out Penny Mordaunt on The Last Leg was some lovely work.
— Patrick Spelman (@flippflop) March 6, 2026
@vittorioangelon calling out Penny Mordaunt on The Last Leg was epic, and needed. Great work.
— plantpotjam (@plantpotjam) March 6, 2026
Penny Mordaunt being ripped a new one on #TheLastLeg is the sort of TV we all need 🤣
— Matt (@trainfanmatt) March 6, 2026
seeing penny mordaunt getting the absolute piss taken out of her on live television has just made my day so much better
— tils (@hcafctils) March 6, 2026
#thelastleg I think Penny Mordaunt is regretting agreeing to be on tonight’s show.
— £200 a minute since 2005 🇵🇸 🔻 (@glazersleavenow) March 6, 2026
#isItOk that @vittorioangelon has just chewed up and spat out Penny Mordaunt on @TheLastLeg
You fuckin bet it is— RedPaul 🏳️🌈🍉 🕉☮✊🏻 (@PIMC66) March 6, 2026
And a few made use of the show’s “#isitOK” hashtag to make sure of maximum exposure:
#LastLeg #IsitOK that Penny Mordaunt looks absolutely fuming still @vittorioangelon pic.twitter.com/zE41YKomx2
— Mark (@mabmab71) March 6, 2026
#isItOk that @vittorioangelon has just chewed up and spat out Penny Mordaunt on @TheLastLeg
You fuckin bet it is— RedPaul 🏳️🌈🍉 🕉☮✊🏻 (@PIMC66) March 6, 2026
Featured image via the Canary
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