A rare public rupture has opened between London and Washington after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer refused to allow the United States to use the joint UK-US military base at Diego Garcia to launch strikes against Iran, prompting an angry response from President Donald Trump.
Mr Trump criticised Sir Keir personally on Tuesday, saying: “This is not Winston Churchill we’re dealing with,” as the dispute intensified into what officials and political observers in both capitals described as the most serious strain in UK-US relations for many years.