UK not obliged to support every demand of ‘transactional’ US president, minister says
Donald Trump is a “very transactional” president, whose repeated demands on Iran must be seen in this context, one of Keir Starmer’s most senior ministers has said in an unusually blunt UK assessment of relations between the countries.Asked about the US president’s threats of some sort of retaliation against allies who do not supply ships to try to free up the strait of Hormuz, Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, said the UK was not obliged to agree to every US request.After Trump again criticised the UK for a perceived lack of enthusiasm in helping the US-Israeli war against Iran, McFadden said it was important to separate the US president’s “rhetoric” from the more important issues.In an overnight interview with the Financial Times, Trump reiterated his frustration at the UK for not sending ships to the strait of Hormuz, the vital sea freight passage that has been all but closed by Iranian retaliatory attacks.“It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump said.
“If there’s no response or if it’s a negative response, I think it will be very bad for the future of Nato.”Asked if he believed Trump might reduce support for Nato if other members did not do as he demanded with Iran, McFadden told Sky News: “Well, that’s the president right there.The quote that you’ve just given has summed him up.“It’s a very transactional presidency, and our job is to navigate this, to always remember that the friendship between the United States and the United Kingdom runs very deep.It’s a good relationship.
It’s enduring, and I think it will outlast all the personalities involved.”Rather than sending ships, the UK is instead drawing up plans to send minesweeping drones to the strait of Hormuz, amid concerns that complying with Trump’s demand could escalate the crisis.Asked about this, McFadden said: “The honest answer is – these things will be discussed between the prime minister and the president, and I can’t give you a list of equipment at the moment that we would send, but the position that we’ve taken more broadly in the war, as I said, is we’ve not sought to be a protagonist in this.”Speaking earlier to Times Radio, McFadden said: “There’s a lot of rhetoric, always, in this presidency.Underneath that, there is a good and close relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States.
I’m confident that will continue.We speak to one another all the time.“But that doesn’t mean that we will always have to support every intervention and every action that the United States chooses to take.”Starmer has worked hard to maintain good relations with Trump as far as possible, for example using his first visit to the Trump White House to invite the president for an unprecedented second state visit to the UK.But Trump has repeatedly criticised Starmer over what he sees as a lack of enthusiasm for supporting the attack on Iran, saying earlier this month: “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.
”Downing Street is, however, confident that its stance of only supporting defensive measures against Iranian drone and missile attacks is in accordance with international law, and generally matches the mood of the public in the UK.Starmer and Trump spoke by phone on Sunday.According to a Downing Street readout of the call, the pair “discussed the ongoing situation in the Middle East and the importance of reopening the strait of Hormuz to end the disruption to global shipping, which is driving up costs worldwide”.
Thames Water lenders float new £10bn rescue plan
Thames Water’s lenders have put forward a £10bn rescue plan that would involve paying off the troubled water company’s hundreds of millions of pounds-worth of fines for leaks and pollution, as part of an effort to stave off financial collapse.A group of private equity firms and investment groups said they would inject about £3.35bn of cash into Thames Water and raise £6.65bn in debt, in exchange for the company not falling into a government-handled administration, in effect a temporary nationalisation.Bills for Thames Water’s 16 million customers in south-east England are already due to rise steeply until 2030 but the rescue plan would, at least, hold them at that level rather than pushing them even higher
Taxpayer bill for saving Scunthorpe steel furnaces could top £1.5bn by 2028, auditor says
The cost of keeping the UK’s last remaining blast furnaces going at British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant could exceed £1.5bn by 2028 if it continues at its current rate, according to the government’s spending watchdog.Ministers took the plant into public control in April last year, after its Chinese owner – industrial firm Jingye – threatened to shut down the loss-making site.The National Audit Office (NAO), which monitors state spending, said the intervention saved thousands of jobs at Scunthorpe and prevented a “serious impact” on UK industry, including Network Rail, which buys steel for the railways from the plant.Shutting the plant would also have ended Britain’s “primary” steel-making ability because blast furnaces allow steel to be made from scratch, rather than relying on scrap metal
AI has exposed age-old problems with university coursework | Letter
The frustration many academics are expressing about artificial intelligence and critical thinking is understandable (‘I wish I could push ChatGPT off a cliff’: professors scramble to save critical thinking in an age of AI, 10 March). But from my experience working with students on academic writing, blaming AI risks masking a problem that universities have lived with for years.In my work with students, I have long seen the ways in which thinking can be outsourced when assessment allows it: essay mills, shared past papers, model essays passed between cohorts, or heavy reliance on tutors and friends to structure assignments. Artificial intelligence did not invent this behaviour. It has simply industrialised a shortcut that already existed
Trump administration reportedly set to be paid $10bn for brokering TikTok deal
Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly poised to be paid $10bn by investors as part of a deal to create a US-controlled version of TikTok.The $10bn, considered by the US government as a sort of transaction fee, will be paid by the administration-friendly investors who took control of TikTok’s US operations from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, according to reporting that first appeared in the Wall Street Journal.The investors in the popular social media app include software company Oracle; MGX, an investment firm based in the United Arab Emirates; and private equity business Silver Lake. These entities, along with other backers, paid $2.5bn to the US treasury when the deal closed in January and are set to make further payments in the unusual arrangement until the total hits $10bn
Sydney Swans admit to altering Bondi attack tribute to omit mention of Jewish community
The Sydney Swans have again apologised for the club’s “error of judgment” that resulted in the Jewish community not being mentioned in the AFL’s opening round pre-match tribute to victims of the Bondi terror attack.In a statement on Monday, the club attempted to absolve the AFL of any blame after the league was referred to the royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion by Liberal senator James Paterson.Before the Swans’ season-opening game against Carlton at the SCG, Sydney’s chief executive, Matthew Pavlich, led a tribute to victims of the Bondi attack and first responders, some of whom joined the teams on the field.The club has now apologised multiple times, after journalist and former player Gerard Healy revealed Pavlich’s speech had been edited to remove references to the Jewish community.“There was no directive or instruction from the AFL to remove or change the reference to the Jewish Community in the script,” the club said in a statement
Cheltenham raised a cheer – but fatalities and fallouts tainted bounce-back festival
Attendance: up. British winners: up. Bookies’ profits: through the roof. Punters will wince at the last of those after a ferociously difficult four days at Cheltenham, with winners at 66-1, 50-1, 40-1 and 33-1 among the biggest skinners for the books. The Paddy Power client in Ireland who was paid €558,000 (£484,000) after putting Friday’s first six winners into a 50 cent each-way Lucky 63 would be a very worthy inductee into the Cheltenham Hall of Fame
Still crazy: chaotic Six Nations showed the timeless appeal of great sporting drama | Robert Kitson
USA 2-1 Dominican Republic: World Baseball Classic semi-final – as it happened
Father and son amateur cricketers combine for mammoth partnership of 590
Alex Johnston bedlam delivers one of rugby league’s most unforgettable nights | Jack Snape
Cameron Young holds off Matt Fitzpatrick on final hole to win Players Championship
More countries, bigger audience but controversy lingered in Milano Cortina