No 10 says White House leak won’t stop UK sharing secrets with US, but pushes back at ‘freeloading’ claims – UK politics live
Downing Street has rejected suggestions that Britain is a “freeloading” country that expects the US to meet its defence needs.Downing Street has rejected suggestions that Britain is a “freeloading” country that expects the US to meet its defence needs.At the lobby briefing this morning, the PM’s spokesperson spoke at length about the contribution the UK makes to joint military operations with the Americans, following the extraordinary leak of messages showing the contempt President Trump’s most senior allies have for Europe’s record on defence.“The account identified as ‘JD Vance’ addressed a message at 8:45 to @Pete Hegseth: ‘if you think we should do it let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again,’” Goldberg wrote. (The administration has argued that America’s European allies benefit economically from the US navy’s protection of international shipping lanes.)Goldberg continues: “The user identified as Hegseth responded three minutes later: “VP: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC. But Mike is correct, we are the only ones on the planet (on our side of the ledger) who can do this.You can see, from the way in which the UK has worked closely with the US, supplying regional security and defence, our commitment to working with the US on matters of regional security.You’ll know the UK provided air-to-air refuelling support for recent strikes against Houthi key rebel targets [the raid discussed in the messages inadvertently shared with Godlberg].Yes. The US is our closest ally when it comes to intelligence and defence. We have a long-standing relationship on intelligence and defence cooperation … We will continue and continue to build on the very strong relationship we already have with the US. Continue reading...
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Downing Street has rejected suggestions that Britain is a “freeloading” country that expects the US to meet its defence needs.
Downing Street has rejected suggestions that Britain is a “freeloading” country that expects the US to meet its defence needs.
At the lobby briefing this morning, the PM’s spokesperson spoke at length about the contribution the UK makes to joint military operations with the Americans, following the extraordinary leak of messages showing the contempt President Trump’s most senior allies have for Europe’s record on defence.
“The account identified as ‘JD Vance’ addressed a message at 8:45 to @Pete Hegseth: ‘if you think we should do it let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again,’” Goldberg wrote. (The administration has argued that America’s European allies benefit economically from the US navy’s protection of international shipping lanes.)
Goldberg continues: “The user identified as Hegseth responded three minutes later: “VP: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC. But Mike is correct, we are the only ones on the planet (on our side of the ledger) who can do this.
You can see, from the way in which the UK has worked closely with the US, supplying regional security and defence, our commitment to working with the US on matters of regional security.
You’ll know the UK provided air-to-air refuelling support for recent strikes against Houthi key rebel targets [the raid discussed in the messages inadvertently shared with Godlberg].
Yes. The US is our closest ally when it comes to intelligence and defence. We have a long-standing relationship on intelligence and defence cooperation … We will continue and continue to build on the very strong relationship we already have with the US. Continue reading...
