Cooper rejects Blair’s call for UK to have backed Trump’s strikes on Iran

Foreign secretary hits back at former prime minister, saying Britain had to ‘learn the lessons’ of Iraq war

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Yvette Cooper has rejected Tony Blair’s assertion that the UK should have supported Donald Trump’s initial airstrikes on Iran, saying Britain had to “learn the lessons” of mistakes made in Iraq.

At a private lunch event on Friday, the former Labour prime minister said Keir Starmer “should have backed America from the very beginning” and let the Trump administration use British airbases, adding: “If they are your ally and they are an indispensable cornerstone for your security … you had better show up when they want you to.”