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Britain has scrapped contingency plans to send the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales to the Middle East after Donald Trump mocked Sir Keir Starmer for allegedly wanting to get involved in a war with Iran even though the war had already been won.
British officials said the carrier, currently in Portsmouth, was not being prepared for Iran-related activity and Downing Street said there was “no decision to deploy her”.
The news comes after the Ministry of Defense placed the ship and its crew on a state of high readiness to depart within five days, a move confirmed in a statement on Saturday in connection with Britain’s military buildup in the Middle East.
“HMS Prince of Wales has always been on very high readiness and we are enhancing the readiness of the carrier to reduce the time to departure for any deployment,” the Defense Ministry said on Saturday.
Some British officials claimed that there were never plans to send the carrier to the Middle East and that instead it was being prepared for NATO operations with a deployment to the Arctic. But other British officials said the sudden change in readiness was ordered last week to give the government the option of deploying warships to the eastern Mediterranean or beyond.
Trump mocked the idea in a social media post on Saturday. Write: “The United Kingdom, our once-great ally, perhaps the greatest of them all, is finally seriously considering sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East.
“It’s okay, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them anymore – but we will remember. We don’t need people who get into wars after they win!”
Britain’s other carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, was being repaired and therefore unable to deploy.
Starmer’s aides denied that the US president played any role in changing plans for the deployment of HMS Prince of Wales and insisted that the 20-minute conversation between the two leaders on Sunday had been “constructive”.
An aide to the prime minister insisted the two leaders were trying to restore ties after a week of criticism from the White House over Britain’s refusal to do more to support US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
“I think everyone wants to get back to normal,” the aide said.
The UK has begun conducting air defense sorties in support of the UAE, Defense Secretary John Healey told the House of Commons on Monday. He also told MPs that Britain has deployed more air operations experts to the region to help allies with airspace management.
On Sunday night, RAF Typhoons “successfully shot down two drones, one over Jordan, the other heading towards Bahrain”, the Defense Secretary said.
He also confirmed that the first US bombers landed at RAF Fairford on Friday, after Britain gave Washington permission to use British bases for the limited purpose of launching strikes against Iranian missile storage depots and launchers.
Last month the Defense Ministry announced that Britain would deploy a carrier strike group – HMS Prince of Wales and escorting warships – to the North Atlantic and Arctic this year to “deter Russian aggression and protect critical maritime infrastructure”.
The deployment will be part of NATO’s new Arctic Sentry mission, established this year to strengthen the alliance’s security in the High North as melting sea ice opens up new routes and increases the threat of hostile state activity. Part of Britain’s deployment will be under command of NATO.
The carrier strike group is also scheduled to cross the Atlantic and visit a US port. The American jets are expected to take off from the flight deck of HMS Prince of Wales along with Royal Air Force F-35 jets.
Meanwhile, France has deployed its aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in the eastern Mediterranean and President Emmanuel Macron was in cyprus on Monday to discuss the security of the island, which is home to two British military bases.
HMS Dragon, a British Type 45 destroyer, is expected to depart this week to provide additional security to British interests in the Mediterranean and to Cyprus.
Opinion polls show that a majority of Britons support Starmer’s decision not to engage in a US-Israeli attack on Iran. A new poll by YouGov found that 59 per cent of people now say they are opposed to military action – an increase of 10 points from last Monday – and 25 per cent are in favour.
Reform UK, which had supported the UK joining the war, now seems more cautious. Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick told the BBC on Sunday that he did not think it was “necessary” for Britain to “deploy British airmen to bomb Iran right now.”
Separately, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has called on Starmer to push for the cancellation of a planned state visit by King Charles and Queen Camilla to the US in late April in protest against the Iran war.
Downing Street said no visit had been confirmed. Such royal visits take place only on the advice of the prime minister, but officials with knowledge of the trip say planning is continuing “without deviation.”
Canceling the state visit so late would be seen as a major insult to Trump and, given the delicate state of political relations, a major risk for Starmer.
Dependents of British embassy staff in the United Arab Emirates have been temporarily evacuated as a precaution, but the Abu Dhabi and Dubai embassies are operating as normal, the Foreign Office said on Monday.
