'Trump keeps world waiting' and 'ArmageDon'

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks at the White House Press Briefing room in Washington DC on 19 June 2025.Image source, Getty Images
  • Published

The Times says the UK government is weighing up, external whether to provide the US with military support if President Donald Trump decides to bomb Iran. It claims a "range of scenarios" have been discussed by ministers, with a "limited offer of support" considered to be the most likely decision. 

The Daily Telegraph says the attorney general has warned Sir Keir Starmer that UK involvement in a US strike on Iran could be illegal, external. Lord Hermer is understood to believe that Britain should limit its role to protecting allies from an attack.

The Daily Mail highlights figures published by the government yesterday, which suggest that spending on sickness and disability benefits is on course to rise by £18bn a year, external if MPs fail to back proposed reforms to the welfare system.

The Daily Mirror says charities have expressed alarm at planned cuts to personal independence payments, warning they will be "catastrophic" for disabled people, external.  Ministers insist the move will save £5bn and help more people back into work.

Several papers use their leader columns to criticise the latest delay to the opening of the HS2 high speed railway. The Sun warns that Britain is now a "global laughing stock", external when it comes to major projects, while the Times, external calls HS2 "the white elephant that tramples all others in the herd of Britain's infrastructure disasters". For the Guardian, lessons must be learned, external, including "embracing greener construction, tighter cost control and democratic engagement".

A warning that the use of Chinese technology in North Sea wind farms could pose a national security risk, external is featured by the Financial Times. It says the White House has told UK officials that wind turbines made by China could house electronic surveillance equipment. The government said it would "never let anything get in the way of our national security".

The Daily Express says the daughter of Dame Esther Rantzen has urged MPs to back the assisted dying bill, external when it returns to the Commons tomorrow. Rebecca Wilcox has told the paper that giving people choice over their deaths would be a wonderful 85th birthday present for her mother, who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

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