Rachel Reeves: ‘Israel has every right to defend itself’
In a major escalation of conflict in the Middle East, Israel and Iran are now engaged in active warfare, trading missile strikes after Israel initially attacked Iranian nuclear sites on Friday. The UK has now sent military jets to the region, and on Sky News this morning, Trevor Phillips asked Chancellor Rachel Reeves if UK military assets could be used in support of Israeli operations. Reeves said it was a ‘fast moving situation’, but the UK had not been involved so far. She added that Israel had the right to defend itself, and that the UK was ‘also very concerned about Iran’s nuclear deterrent’. When pressed on potential UK military involvement, Reeves said she couldn’t rule anything out, but implied that ‘defensive activity’ was a possibility. The chancellor said it was a volatile situation, but called for deescalation, warning that what happens in the region would have ‘repercussions around the world’.
Tzipi Hotovely: ‘There was an imminent threat’
Laura Kuenssberg spoke to Israeli Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely, and asked her why Israel would not heed calls from its allies to deescalate its actions in the region. Hotovely claimed Israel had to move because Iran was ‘racing fast to get nuclear bombs’, and said it would be ‘devastating to the region’ if Iran achieved nuclear capabilities. Kuenssberg reminded Hotovely that US intelligence believe Iran was ‘not yet building a nuclear weapon’, and so there was no ‘imminent threat’. Hotovely said that was false, that Iran was enriching uranium far beyond what is necessary for civil applications, and that Iran’s purpose was to ‘destroy Israel’.
Reza Pahlavi: ‘Anything that weakens the regime… is something that people welcome’
Laura Kuenssberg also interviewed Reza Pahlavi, son of the former Shah of Iran, who argued that this conflict was the fault of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Pahlavi suggested that the people of Iran ‘welcome’ Israel’s attacks as a positive force against the ‘strangulation’ of the Iranian regime. Kuenssberg asked if Pahlavi really believed that the bombing of Iranian citizens was a good thing. Pahlavi said he didn’t believe Israel was deliberately targeting civilians, and described the conflict as an ‘opportunity for the Iranian people to finally liberate themselves’. He called on the rest of the world to not ‘sit idle’, but provide a ‘sense of support’ for the Iranian people.
Mel Stride: ‘When it’s come to public and political pressure, they’ve caved’
The government have announced a national inquiry into grooming gangs, after repeatedly resisting calls to do so. On the BBC today, Rachel Reeves said the prime minister had accepted the recommendations of Baroness Casey’s new report, and was focussed ‘on the victims… not grandstanding’. However, Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride criticised the government on Sky News, saying the prime minister had ‘dithered’ and been ‘defensive’ on the issue. Trevor Phillips said that Starmer had also criticised the Conservatives for not dealing with the problem when they were in power. Stride claimed that they ‘did a lot’, such as accepting most of the recommendations from the Alexis Jay review. He argued that the government was implementing a national inquiry now because of public and political pressure, and compared it to their U-turn on the winter fuel payments, saying, ‘that’s not the best way to conduct public policy’.
Darren Jones: Comments on Question Time were ‘clipped by Reform in a particular way’
Treasury minister Darren Jones has been criticised for saying on Question Time that the majority of people crossing the Channel in boats are ‘children, babies and women’. Home Office figures estimate that 81% of those arriving on small boats are adult men. On GB News, Camilla Tominey asked if Jones accepted that he had ‘misled’ the audience. Jones argued he had been specifically talking about his visit to the border security command, where he had seen dinghies which did have mostly women and children on board, many of whom ‘needed treatment for burns’. Jones said he had been making the point that we need a ‘humanitarian response’ to go with strong borders. Tominey suggested that the smuggling gangs were ‘running rings around’ the government at the moment. Jones admitted it was a problem, and said the government was putting more money into the border security command.
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