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Starmer says UK ‘will not be drawn into wider war’ as he opens No 10 press conference

Keir Starmer is speaking at his press conference.

The war is entering its third week, he says.

He says he has been clear in his objectives.

double quotation markFirst, we will protect our people in the region.

Second, while taking the necessary action to defend ourselves and our allies, we will not be drawn into the wider war.

And third, we will keep working towards a swift resolution that brings security and stability back to the region and stops the Iranian threat to its neighbours.

Key events

Starmer claims process failure was to blame for Peter Mandelson being appointed ambassador to US

Q: [Peston’s second question] Why did you appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US when we now learn that President Trump told you to keep Karen Pierce in place?

Starmer said the Mandelson appointments was a process failure.

double quotation markLook, the process wasn’t strong enough. And that’s why, last year I moved to strengthen the process and we’ll strengthen it again.

My reflection is the process wasn’t strong enough. The process was followed. But was the process strong enough? No it wasn’t.

Now I recognised that back in September, when the Bloomberg emails came to light [about the full extent of Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Eptstein], and it was then that I started the process of strengthening it, and we’ll continue to do so.

Starmer was referring to the vetting process for jobs like this, which has been strengthened.

But he ignored the substance of the question, which is why he ignored the concerns about Mandelson that were raised during the vetting process, and why he did not just keep Pierce in post.

Starmer says he wants as many countries as possibly involved in plan to reopen strait of Hormuz, but it will be ‘difficult’

Q: [From ITV’s Robert Peston] Are you saying no to deploying the Royal Navy to reopen the strait of Hormuz?

Starmer said he discussed this with President Trump yesterday.

double quotation markThere have been discussions going on in relation to a viable plan. We want to make sure that that involves as many partners as possible. That’s been our stated objective here, particularly talking to European partners, inevitably talking to Gulf Partners and to the US, because we need a credible, viable plan if we can.

But he said this was “not easy”.

double quotation markIt is difficult. Of course it’s difficult. There’s no hiding that. But that’s what we’re working on in terms of a viable plan.

Starmer says UK looking at ‘options’ for how it could help reopen strait of Hormuz

Starmer is now taking question.

Q: [From the BBC’s Chris Mason] Is there a limit to what you can do to help people with bills? And what will you do to help reopen the strait of Hormuz?

Starmer said the two points were related.

On financial help, he said:

double quotation markI’m not going to stand here and pretend to you that we all know what the situation will be in the three or six months’ time. We don’t.

The best way through this is to de-escalate, and reduce the conflict, because that is the simple, most effective way to deal with the cost of living. And that’s where we’re putting our all of our focus.

But look, you heard what I said about my instinct. And obviously, we’ll always do whatever we can in relation to cost of living for working people.

And, on action in the Gulf, he said:

double quotation markWe’ve already got autonomous mine hunting systems in the region. We’re looking at options and expertise, but working with allies.

Starmer said his fourth measure was the ongoing drive to make the UK energy indepenent by developing more renewable energy.

And his fifth measure was working diplomatically for an end to the conflict.

He ended his opening statement with the pre-briefed remarks criticising other parties for their response to the war. (See 10.19am.)

Starmer says government to spend £53m helping rural communities with rising cost of heating oil

Starmer is on to his third point, and he confirms the government will support people in rural areas affected by the steep rise in the cost of heating oil.

double quotation markThe CMA [Competition and Markets Authority] reported last week what every heating oil customer already knows. There are accounts of suppliers cancelling orders and jacking up prices. Now that kind of conduct is completely unacceptable. So if the companies have broken the law there will be legal action.

Because it’s clear this market is under regulated, we’re going to put that right to ensure customers get a better deal.

But we won’t just wait for that. I’m announcing immediate support for vulnerable heating oil customers today, providing £53m for those households that are most exposed.

Starmer says the second measure is the extension of the cut in fuel duty until September.

And he says he has been clear to energy companies that they should not profit from price rises caused by the war.

Starmer says energy companies will be given ‘legal direction’ saying budget savings must be passed on to customers

Starmer says he wants to set out five steps the government is taking to help people with the cost of living, in response to the war.

double quotation markFirst, we have capped energy bills until the end of June, saving the average household £117. And that’s in addition to the warm homes discount of £150 for the most vulnerable in society.

No matter what happens now in energy markets, in three weeks time your energy bills will be cut and then capped for the next three months.

And he says the government is “giving a legal direction to the energy companies to ensure that every penny of the savings that we delivered through last year’s budget is passed directly onto customers to keep bills as low as possible”.

Starmer says 92,000 Britons in the region have returned to the UK on commercial and government chartered flights.

And he says the armed forces are working “24/7 to protect British lives and British interests and support our Gulf partners”.

He says he is working on a diplomatic response. He met Mark Carney this morning and he will meet President Zelenskyy soon, he says, because there is an impact on Ukraine.

Starmer says he wants war to end ‘as quickly as possibly’ because of its impact on cost of living

Starmer says he wants the war to end “as quickly as possible because the longer it goes on, the more dangerous the situation becomes and the worse it is for the cost of living back here at home”.

He says the impact on the cost of living has been a priority for him.

double quotation markNow, in recent days, I’ve visited community centres in England and Northern Ireland, and I know people are really worried about what this means for them.

And look, I grew up working class in the 1970s. I remember how it feels when you’re struggling to make ends meet. It’s a knot in your stomach. Every time the bills come through the door, and that’s at the forefront of my mind in meeting this crisis.

Starmer says UK ‘will not be drawn into wider war’ as he opens No 10 press conference

Keir Starmer is speaking at his press conference.

The war is entering its third week, he says.

He says he has been clear in his objectives.

double quotation markFirst, we will protect our people in the region.

Second, while taking the necessary action to defend ourselves and our allies, we will not be drawn into the wider war.

And third, we will keep working towards a swift resolution that brings security and stability back to the region and stops the Iranian threat to its neighbours.

Keir Starmer (2nd from left) and his wife Victoria Starmer (2nd from right) with Mark Carney and his wife, Diana Fox Carney, outside 10 Downing Street earlier today. Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing/Getty Images

Starmer accuses Badenoch and Farage of ‘following’, not ‘leading’, with their initial unconditional support for Trump’s war

According to extracts from his statement released in advance, Keir Starmer will use his press conference this morning to repeat his claim that Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage were wrong to suggest they would unconditionally back Donald Trump when the US-Israeli war against Iran started more than two weeks ago.

Starmer will say:

double quotation markMoments like this also tell you about leadership … Now, there are others who would have made a different decision two weeks ago.

They would have rushed the UK headlong into this war without the full picture of what they were sending our forces into and without a plan to get us out.

That’s not leading, it’s following.

My leadership is about standing firm for the British interest. No matter the pressure.

And I believe time will show that we have the right approach. Right on the economy and the cost of living. Right on defence and energy.

And right on this war, in the best interests of the British people.

The Conservative party and Reform UK have revised their stance on the war over the past fortnight. Farage now says he would not support the US militarily, and Badenoch claims her party never fully supported the war in the first place.

On the Monday after the war started, in response to reports that Donald Trump was disappointed not to have support from Britain, Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, issued a statement saying:

double quotation markIt is no surprise that our closest and most important ally is so disappointed. The Labour government’s response to the crisis in Iran has been shameful.

We should have been supporting our allies, not making it harder for them. Even now Starmer is still trying to sit on the fence, which is a complete failure of leadership.

These are from Patrick Wintour, the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, on Keir Starmer’s options as he decides how to respond to Donald Trump. (See 8.57am.)

double quotation markTrump the coalition builder.

Saturday March 7

Trump to Starmer 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,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, adding: “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!”

Saturday March 14

Trump “Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint will send ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a nation that has been totally decapitated.”

Sunday March 15 Trump

It will be very bad for the future of NATO if the seven countries say no and the US will remember them.

Monday March 16

Starmer to Trump.

Option 1 This is an illegal war that you started in the middle of talks from which you excluded Europe. You launched the war without consulting your allies or Congress and without considering the military consequences. So the answer is no. Sort out the mess of your own making.

Option 2 Vital UK interests are at play and freedom of navigation requires the Strait is reopened. “Help is on its way, Mr President”.

Option 3 I am consulting allies and lawyers.

double quotation markWorth recalling UK has recently taken military action to defend freedom of navigation, but in the Red Sea by attacking Houthi drone manufacturing sites in Yemen. It followed a UN SC resolution in Jan 2024 condemning Houthi attacks, but not authorising use of force.

As members of Operation Prosperity Guardian, the UK took part in at least six bombing raids in 2024 and 2025 jointly with US.

PM Sunak in January 2024 told MPs “this action was taken in self-defence. It was limited, not escalatory. It was a necessary and proportionate response to a direct threat to UK vessels, and therefore to the UK itself.”

He added: “We should also recognise the risks of inaction. It would weaken international security and the rule of law, further damage freedom of navigation and the global economy, and send a dangerous message that British vessels and British interests are fair game”.

Starmer as opposition leader said “The Houthi attacks are unacceptable and illegal and, if left unaddressed, could lead to a devastating rise in the cost of essential food in some of the poorest countries….The UK strikes were limited and targeted, and did everything possible to protect civilian lives. That is a proportionate response”.

Parallel far from exact eg Iran not yet conducting full scale attacks on shipping, Biden built a coalition and Houthis not a recognised state.

What No 10 said about Starmer’s call with Trump yesterday

Keir Starmer and Mark Carney presumably spoke about their dealings with Donald Trump at their meeting this morning. Both of them seem to have had quite difficult conversations with the US president recently. Here is the terse Canadian readout from Carney’s call with Trump last weekend. And here is the statement from a No 10 spokesperson last night after Starmer spoke to the president.

double quotation markThe prime minister spoke to the president of the United States Donald Trump this evening.

The leaders discussed the ongoing situation in the Middle East and the importance of reopening the strait of Hormuz to end the disruption to global shipping, which is driving up costs worldwide.

The prime minister also expressed his condolences for the American service personnel who have lost their lives during the conflict.

They agreed to keep in touch.

This implies that, although there was agreement on reopening the strait of Hormuz, there was no agreement on how that should be achieved.

This is from the FT’s Edward Luce on Bluesky on his Trump scoop. (See 9.22am.)

double quotation markI called Trump and he picked up..

Has Nato and the UK in his sights again

Keir Starmer has been meeting Mark Carney, his Canadian counterpart, in Downing Street this morning.

Keir Starmer, right, and Mark Carney in Downing Street. Photograph: Brook Mitchell/AP

Carney leaves Downing Street. Photograph: Brook Mitchell/Reuters

UK not obliged to support every demand of ‘transactional’ US president, McFadden says

Here is Peter Walker’s story on what Pat McFadden has been saying this morning in response to Donald Trump’s implict threat to withdraw support for Nato if countries like the UK don’t help the US in the Gulf.

Trump argues Nato countries should help US in Gulf in return for Washington backing Ukraine

Here are some more quotes from Donald Trump’s interview with Edward Luce from the Financial Times. Trump implicitly threatened to withdraw support for Nato if countries like the UK did not supply warships to protect oil tankers going through the strait of Hormuz from attacks by the Iranians. (See 8.57am.) But he made other points too.

double quotation markWe have a thing called Nato. We’ve been very sweet. We didn’t have to help them with Ukraine. Ukraine is thousands of miles away from us . . . But we helped them. Now we’ll see if they help us.

double quotation markBecause I’ve long said that we’ll be there for them but they won’t be there for us. And I’m not sure that they’d be there.

Trump has often made this argument before, including when he was at Davos in January. In response to what he said then, Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary general, pointed out that Nato’s mutual defence clause, article 5, has only been triggered once, after 9/11, and that led to other Nato countries helping the US in Afghansitan.

double quotation markWe’re hitting them very hard. They’ve got nothing left but to make a little trouble in the strait but these people are beneficiaries and they ought to help us police it. We’ll help them. But they should also be there. You sort of need a lot of people to watch over a few.

Pat McFadden plays down Trump’s threat to Nato, arguing US alliance strong enough to ‘outlast’ current issues

Good morning. Keir Starmer is holding a press conference in Downing Street this morning. As Kiran Stacey reports, the PM’s main intention will be to announce support for people most hit by rising energy prices, particularly householders reliant on heating oil. The measures are expected to be worth tens of millions of pounds.

But, inevitably, most of the focus likely to be on how Starmer responds to the latest provocations from Donald Trump.

To recap: last weekend Trump was dismissing the UK’s stance saying that the US did not need Britain’s support in the Gulf anyway because “we don’t need people that join wars after we’ve already won”. This weekend he was asking the UK, and other countries, to send warships to help keep the strait of Hormuz open. The government has indicated that it won’t deploy warships, but it may send minesweeping drones. Here are some of today’s headlines.

Telegraph splash Photograph: Telegraph

Times splash Photograph: Times

Guardian splash Photograph: Guardian

The full Guardian story is here.

After briefly sounding solicitous, Trump is now back in threat mode. In a brief interview with the Financial Times he implied that, if countries like the UK did not deploy warships to protect oil tankers going through the strait of Hormuz, he might pull the plug on Nato. He said:

double quotation markIt’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the Strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there …

If there’s no response or if it’s a negative response I think it will be very bad for the future of Nato.

We will hear what Starmer has to say about this later, but we have already had a response from Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, who has been on the morning interview round. Speaking on Sky News, McFadden downplayed the threat, arguing that the US-UK alliance was strong enough to “outlast” any problems caused by Trump’s rhetoric. Asked to comment on the quote, he said:

double quotation markThat’s the president right there. The quote that you’ve just given has summed him up.

It’s a very transactional presidency and our job is to navigate this, to always remember that the friendship between the United States and the United Kingdom runs very deep.

It’s a good relationship. It’s enduring and I think it will outlast all the personalities involved.

We will cover the press conference in detail, but we won’t just be focusing on Iran today; there is other politics around too. Here is the agenda for the day.

Morning: Keir Starmer meets Mark Carney, the Canadian PM, in Downing Street.

10.30am: Starmer holds his press conference.

11am: Richard Tice, Reform UK’s deputy leader, holds a press conference where he will give what the party says will be “a significant update on Doge and Reform in local government”.

11.30am: Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, gives a speech where he will announce plans for a youth jobs grant and an apprenticeships incentive.

Morning: Kemi Badenoch is on a visit in London.

12.30pm: Malcolm Offord, Reform UK’s leader in Scotland, takes part in a Q&A at the Institute for Government.

1.30pm: Jeremy Corbyn, Your Party’s parliamentary leader, presents the findings of his Gaza Tribunal report. As Patrick Wintour reports, it will say the government has been complicit in crimes committed by Israel.

2.30pm: John Healey, the defence secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

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If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.

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Starmer says UK ‘will not be drawn into wider war’ as he opens No 10 press conference

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