US should judge Britain on its actions in Gulf, says UK defence secretary

UK bases have been invaluable to US, says John Healey, as he cautioned against focusing on ‘social media posts’

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The UK’s actions in the Gulf should be the basis for any US judgment of the country’s value rather than Donald Trump’s social media posts, the defence secretary has said.

Speaking at a conference in London, John Healey said the UK’s recent efforts “spoke for themselves”, as Keir Starmer flew home after a trip that included discussing how to keep the strait of Hormuz open with Donald Trump, as well as meeting leaders in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

“Even in this current conflict, the basing permissions that we in the UK have agreed with the US have been invaluable to their military operations,” Healey said, adding: “If we focus on our actions rather than just simply the exchange of words and social media posts, then the fundamentals for me remain.”