'We have a right to decide when we want to get involved': Armed Forces minister hits back at Trump's attacks on UK
Speaking to LBC, Al Carns hit back at President Trump's continued verbal attacks on the UK
Great Britain has a "right to decide when we want to get involved and when we don't", a Government minister and former Royal Marine colonel has told LBC.
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Al Carns, Armed Forces minister, hit back at comments made by Donald Trump, who again hit out at the UK on Thursday, describing Britain's aircraft carriers as "toys."
The President has spoken out on multiple occasions to blast Sir Keir Starmer's intervention in assisting the US as coming too late.
But speaking to LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr, Mr Carns defended Labour's cautious approach and insisted "you need a plan" when becoming involved in war.
He said: "I am deeply proud of Great Britain, it's great.
Read more: Starmer to face MPs as planning to reopen Strait of Hormuz continues amid soaring oil prices
"We have a right to decide when we want to get involved and when we don't. I've been to every staff college in the military in my career structure, and they always taught me three things, Andrew.
"One is you need a legal mandate, two is you need a plan. And three, you've got to think through to the end and if none of those are thought through, then you should not be putting people in harm's way."
In Trump's latest verbal attack on the UK, he remarked that the UK "shouldn't bother" to send ships, despite issuing several pleas for NATO assistance in his war on Iran.
Insulting the country's aircraft carriers, he added: "We had the UK say - this is three weeks ago - we'll send our aircraft carriers, which aren't the best aircraft carriers, by the way.
"They're toys compared to what we have."
But the latest comments, given at a US cabinet meeting, were brushed aside by Mr Carns, who responded: "I'll leave the American President to say what he needs to say.
"I was the Chief of Staff of the carrier strike force, spent a lot of time on those carriers. They are formidable capabilities and we have some of the best sailors, airmen, marines and indeed army on board them.
"When you package them together with all of the different assets around it, they really are a formidable capability".
The minister, who was enlisted as a Royal Marine Commando in 1999, spoke to Andrew just hours after his colleague and Defence Secretary John Healey struggled to confirm the number of active UK warships in an interview with Nick Ferrari at Breakfast.
When asked by Nick, Mr Healey gave a long pause before eventually answering with 17, which experts say is incorrect.
When asked the same question by Andrew about how many frigates and destroyers there are and where they are, Mr Carns said: "Personally, I don't think this is the right way to go about an interview.
"You should be thinking strategy, not tactics. But if you want the stats, we have six destroyers, seven frigates, eight OPVs, two aircraft carriers, four nuclear submarines, six attack submarines, over 10 RFA, three line bay, 6,000 Marines.
"I can go on the RAF and the army, but I don't think that's what we really want to get out of this interview."
President Trump has stepped up efforts to begin negotiating a peace deal with Iran in recent days amid a continued stand-off over the Strait of Hormuz.
The minister described the blockage of the Strait as "an exceptionally complex problem to deal with in the midst of a conflict".
He added: "I think the reality is the last time we tried to secure the Straits of Hormuz in 1987, it took 30 ships of a coalition force.
"We're now faced with an unprecedented level of threat and I think that has changed in environments, changed in the last 24 years."