Reform UK leader told a ‘Save Chagos Boat Party’ yesterday he would be raising the issue in his meeting with the president

A second government charter flight to bring UK nationals back from the Middle East is due to depart Oman this evening, Downing Street has confirmed.

Further flights are expected in the coming days and more than 160,000 British nationals have now registered their presence with the Foreign Office in the region.

The deputy prime minister is sliding down the slippery slope to full conflict by backing direct UK strikes on military positions in Iran.

We need an urgent clarification from number 10 on whether this is a change in Britain’s position on involvement in Trump’s illegal war.

We must not copy Trump’s unconstitutional and illegal approach to war in the Middle East.

McSweeney resigns as PM’s top aide after Mandelson revelations as Starmer appoints new acting joint chiefs of staff

• Morgan McSweeney resigns as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff

• Profile: Morgan McSweeney

Speaking to Sky News this morning, Conservative shadow minister Alex Burghart said:

This administration under Keir Starmer has failed. It has U-turned, I think, what, 14 or 15 times now.

It has had two resets in the past five months, and it is now caught up in the worst political scandal of my lifetime.

He was lied to by someone who was known to be a serial liar. There’s no excuse for the fact that he made the wrong judgment.

He was in possession of enough facts to have not made that appointment and he did anyway and I am afraid, Laura, he now has to take responsibility for that …

The US president said he would “100%” push ahead with his plans to hit European nations with tarrifs if he doesn’t get Greenland

• Donald Trump links threats to seize Greenland to Nobel prize snub

In a nod to Trump’s efforts on Ukraine, Starmer says he recognises the US president’s role in pushing for ceasefire there – as he says “we will work closely with the United States, Ukraine and our other allies to apply pressure where it belongs: on Putin.”

In his strongest criticism of Trump yet, Starmer goes on to say:

A trade war is in no one’s interest, and my job is always to act in the UK’s national interest.

The leaders of Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK issue joint statement ahead of EU ambassadors meeting

The United States will also suffer if president Donald Trump implements threats to impose tariffs on European countries opposing his plans to acquire Greenland, a French minister said on Sunday.

“In this escalation of tariffs, he has a lot to lose as well, as do his own farmers and industrialists,” French agriculture minister Annie Genevard told broadcasters Europe 1 and CNews.

US government issues warning as Donald Trump says US will take ‘very strong action’ if Iran hangs protesters

• Trump says countries doing business with Iran face 25% tariff on US trade

• People in Iran: share your views on the current situation

Non-essential French embassy staff have left Iran, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Agence France-Presse. The personnel left on Sunday and Monday, the sources added, without saying how many people had departed. “The protection of our personnel and our citizens is a priority,” a French foreign ministry official told AFP.

Commenting on the protests, the UN high commissioner for human rights Volker Türk said:

This cycle of horrific violence cannot continue. The Iranian people and their demands for fairness, equality and justice must be heard.