UK PM says Iran Guards likely behind airbase incident

Iran's Revolutionary Guards "almost certainly directed" a suspected plot ⁠targeting a UK airbase used by the US military for its war in Iran, Britain's Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said.

RAF Fairford was being used by US bombers, which were removed after the suspected terror plot.

Seven people have been arrested and bailed over the incident at the airbase after three suspicious vans were stopped near the facility on 27 September.

No explosive materials were found in the vans but a quantity of petrol was seized.

"I can confirm our assessment that it is highly likely to have been coordinated in Iran, almost certainly directed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard," Mr Burnham told MPs in Parliament.

The prime minister said the UK "will not tolerate these threats on our soil".

"We will crack down on Iran's use of ⁠criminal networks, using our full range of powers to target them and their funding streams, and we will bring further sanctions to restrict the capacity of Iran and the IRGC to do us harm," he said.

In a joint statement, Ireland was among the countries, including the US, UK, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden, to condemn Iran.

They said the RAF Fairford incident demonstrates the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) "continued willingness to project hostile activity beyond its borders through covert networks and proxy actors".

"This comes soon after the recent campaign of attacks across Europe targeting Jewish communities, Iranian journalists and US interests, claimed by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI)," the statement added.

The nations said "any attempt by Iran to threaten, silence, intimidate, harass, harm, or coerce people on our territories through proxies or any other means is unacceptable".

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband summoned the Iranian ambassador.

Iran denied any involvement in the incident.

"The Iranian ambassador in London, Ali Moussavi, has again categorically rejected the accusations concerning Tehran's role in the incident at the Fairford military base," state news agency IRNA reported, adding that he "called on the British government to present evidence supporting its allegations if it possesses any".

Burnham to push for closer ties with EU

Mr Burnham will use a key UK-EU summit next month to push for closer ties with the bloc as he insisted "the status quo is not good enough" for Britain.

The two sides will seek to sign a new post-Brexit food and drink deal, a youth mobility scheme and an agreement on emissions trading to avoid European carbon taxes on British business.

In an address to the House of Commons, the prime minister told MPs it would be a "dereliction of duty" not to seek deeper partnership with the EU.

But he said the British public will be the "boss" at every stage of renegotiating the relationship, adding "public opinion currently supports a pragmatic approach like the one I am suggesting".

He said: "If we are serious about promoting growth, controlling immigration, upholding our values and security, it is a conversation we must have.

"Sticking with the status quo is not good enough for Britain.

"Worse, it would be a major dereliction of duty to turn away.

"We need to take a calm, clear-eyed, rational look at the world as it is today to consider what is best for our country."

The prime minister said the "immediate priority is securing a successful outcome at the summit".

"I believe we should then set up a serious dialogue about the different options for our relationship in the long-term," he said.

Mr Burnham said the upcoming summit "presents an opportunity to make progress on two crucial issues: boosting UK growth and controlling illegal immigration".

In a statement, President of the European Council António Costa said the European Union and Britain "are like-minded partners, united by common values and shared interests".

"Our security and prosperity are closely intertwined, making a strong partnership between us essential," he said.

Mr Costa said: "By deepening our cooperation, we can strengthen our ability to address the challenges of our time, strengthen our resilience and promote stability in Europe and beyond."

The summit has been scheduled for 20 November in Brussels after being postponed owing to Keir Starmer's resignation.

According to the statement, Mr Burnham will be welcomed by Mr Costa, who represents 27 EU leaders, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

They are expected to take stock of the progress made in the bilateral relationship since the first 2025 EU-UK summit in London, including on their defence and security partnership, energy, agrifood rules, climate, people-to-people contacts, and migration and law enforcement.

The statement added: "The EU and UK are like-minded partners which share common values, support multilateralism and a rules-based international order and engage in promoting stability and prosperity in Europe and around the world.

"The leaders are therefore also expected to discuss global and regional issues of mutual concern."

PM denies he questioned legitimacy of Brexit result

Mr Burnham also denied he questioned the legitimacy of the 2016 EU referendum result, when he told The Rest Is Politics podcast that the UK had not "informed people sufficiently about the extent to which people are seeking to disrupt the political process from overseas".

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch told the House of Commons: "Over the weekend, on The Rest Is Politics podcast, he implied that the referendum result was illegitimate because of Russian interference.

"Where has this come from? We all remember in 2018, the head of MI5 said that there was no evidence that Russia had influenced the EU referendum result."

She added: "Will he confirm here and now whether he believes the referendum result was legitimate and, if not, will he publish the evidence that Russia swung the result of the 2016 referendum?"

Mr Burnham replied: "I implied no such thing in my comments on The Rest Is Politics podcast. I think she should go back and look again."

He added "it is a matter of record that Russian actors sought to interfere" in a previous general election and continued: "We think it is inconceivable that this was the first time."

Mr Burnham told the podcast: "I asked the question coming to Downing Street, well was there interference in the 2016 referendum from Russia? I've had the clear answer that yes, there was.

"These things are important now to put clearly on the record and I believe help voters in Germany and France understand that some of this politics is instigated via our enemies, namely Russia."

Ahead of his address in parliament, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called Mr Burnham "a liar", telling a press conference in Hythe: "There was no Russian interference and the Russia hoax has run all the way through this".

Speaking to Times Radio, Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty declined to provide details of what form Russian interference took in 2016 and whether it had been successful.

He said: "I’m not going to get into the specifics of Russia’s actions against the UK, but what is clear is that Russia is attempting to interfere in democratic processes, not just in the UK but across Europe."

Mr Doughty added that Russia was spending £1.5 billion (1.7 billion) on disinformation this year and called for a "whole of society effort" to respond to the threat Moscow poses to British democracy.

Asked whether interference could have changed the result of the 2016 referendum, he said: "The result is the result, and I think the prime minister has been very clear that he’s talking about attempts to interfere.

"The security minister has spoken about this before.

"I’m confident that both the British people and the British state are able to respond to and defend against these types of threats, but we need to be very honest that those threats exist."

Later, Mr Doughty told LBC he did not think Russia’s attempts to interfere in the referendum had been successful.

Additional reporting Tony Connelly, PA