Starmer insists UK was not unprepared after Cyprus drone strike

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday insisted that the United Kingdom had not been left unprepared for the possibility of a conflict in the Middle East or attacks on its bases in Cyprus, despite an Iranian-made drone hitting the runway at the country’s Akrotiri air force base on the island on Monday.

“For a number of weeks, now, we have been pre-deploying our capabilities in the region. In doing so, we have been liaising very closely with the United States … Therefore, radar systems were pre-deployed, ground-based air defence was pre-deployed, counter-drone systems were pre-deployed, and F-35 jets were pre-deployed,” he told the British House of Commons.

He added that since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began on Saturday, “multiple” British F-35 and Typhoon fighter jets “have been in operation, not just in the Middle East, but across Cyprus”.

“Further missions were flown overnight, with Typhoons defending Qatar, in particular, and F-35s defending other regional parties,” he said, in reference to F-35s, likely launched from Cyprus, having engaged and shot down Iranian drones over Jordan on Tuesday night.

He then said that the UK is “resupplying our air defence missiles today”, and reiterated his announcement from Tuesday night that two AW159 Wildcat helicopters will be deployed to Cyprus, saying that they will arrive “this week”.

Additionally, he said, the Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon “will be deployed to the Mediterranean”, while bases outside of Cyprus are being used by US forces “to conduct the operations to strike Iranian missiles and launchers”.

“That is the action we are taking. That is the agreement we have reached with the United States to protect our nationals,” he said.

Those statements did little to impress the country’s leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch, however.

“He says we are pre-deploying. The one ship that we are sending, HMS Dragon, is still in Portsmouth. The fact is that Type 45s cannot take out incoming missiles. This is not enough. He has read out a long list, but the people who understand know that it is not enough. He should be doing more,” she said in her reply in the House.

Starmer then countered that Badenoch’s Conservative Party, which formed the UK’s government between 2010 and 2024, “not only … cut the defence budget, they missed army recruitment targets every year for 14 years”.

“They left morale in our armed forces at an all time low, and our forces hollowed out,” he said.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the UK’s defence ministry had told the Cyprus Mail that the British military is “working as fast as possible” in its efforts to ready the HMS Dragon for its deployment to Cyprus.

They added that the helicopters will be armed with “Martlet drone-busting missiles”, and that they “will reinforce our Royal Air Force Typhoons, F-35B jets, ground-based counter-drone teams, radar systems, and Voyager refuelling aircraft [which are] already deployed”.

Tuesday evening’s announcement came after British Armed Forces Minister Alistair Cairns had earlier told a press conference that “any threat that emanates from Iran, that threatens our British interests, or, more importantly, the hundreds of thousands of [British] citizens in the Middle East, we will neutralise that threat, and we won’t make any apologies for it”.

The engagement in the skies above Jordan, meanwhile, had, according to the UK’s defence ministry, marked “the first time a [Royal Air Force] F-35 has shot down a target on operations”.

F-35 fighter jets have been stationed in Cyprus since last month, with six such aircraft having been deployed from the RAF’s base in Marham, in Norfolk, on the UK mainland, to Cyprus amid fears of a conflict erupting in the Middle East.