“As I have been saying for months, the special relationship is dead. It was killed by Keir Starmer and his lefty lawyer mates who live in a fantasy world detached from the rest of us. They hate strong leadership and decisiveness. You can always rely on this hopeless government to be on the wrong side of history,” – Suella Braverman.
Britain has effectively pulled the plug on intelligence sharing with the United States in the Caribbean, after the Labour Government ordered officials to halt cooperation over President Donald Trump’s campaign against drug traffickers.
The move has astonished defence figures on both sides of the Atlantic and triggered warnings that Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s administration is putting ideology ahead of national security.
The pause, first reported by CNN, came into force in September after the US began launching strikes on boats suspected of smuggling narcotics from Latin America. British officials are understood to have objected on legal grounds, fearing that intelligence passed to Washington could be used to identify targets for lethal force.
At least 75 people are thought to have died since the operation began. The US says those targeted are linked to violent cartels and foreign terrorist groups, but the Labour Government appears unconvinced and has chosen to step back, a decision critics say will embolden organised crime and alienate Britain’s closest ally.
Legal caution or political posturing?
The Attorney General, Lord Hermer KC, is believed to have advised ministers to suspend cooperation. He has become a key influence in Labour’s legalistic foreign policy, previously questioning UK support for Israel’s campaign against Iran and helping shape the handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
Downing Street has not confirmed his involvement, but insiders say the Prime Minister was determined to avoid any suggestion that Britain might share responsibility for American actions.
A government spokesperson said:
“It is our long-standing policy to not comment on intelligence matters. The US is our closest ally on security and intelligence. We continue to work together to uphold global peace and security, defend freedom of navigation and respond to emerging threats.”
However, critics argue that Starmer’s cautious approach betrays a lack of resolve. One senior defence source said the decision reflected “lawyerly risk aversion dressed up as morality”.
Trump defends campaign
President Trump has insisted the strikes are legitimate, describing the United States as being in “armed conflict” with drug cartels and claiming the boats targeted are run by “foreign terror organisations” flooding American cities with narcotics.
The US Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, said this week that two more vessels had been destroyed in the eastern Pacific, killing six people.
“These vessels were known by our intelligence to be associated with illicit narcotics smuggling, were carrying narcotics, and were transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route,” he said.
Analysts see the operation as part of a wider effort to pressure Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, whom Mr Trump has long sought to unseat.
Strain on an old alliance
The decision to block intelligence sharing, which normally flows through the Joint Interagency Task Force South in Florida, has raised alarm among former senior officers.
Vice Admiral Bob Cooling, a former assistant chief of naval staff, told The Telegraph:
“It would be absolutely extraordinary if this was the case… it would be huge. The US–UK intelligence link is unparalleled anywhere on the globe and goes back to just after the Second World War. It’s deep and persistent and really open and transparent. Any breach of that openness would be resisted by both parties strenuously because it’s so important for both of us.”
General Sir Peter Wall, a former Chief of the Defence Staff, said the rupture showed what happens “when human-rights considerations are allowed to trump the national interest.”
Allies step back, too
Canada has also moved to distance itself from Washington’s campaign, saying it will continue its maritime partnership but will not share intelligence that could help identify targets.
The United Nations’ human rights chief, Volker Türk, has condemned the US strikes as “extrajudicial killing”, a position the Labour Government reportedly supports.
Domestic backlash
The reaction at home has been fierce. Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman accused the Prime Minister of wrecking the “special relationship”.
“As I have been saying for months, the special relationship is dead,” she wrote on X. “It was killed by Keir Starmer and his lefty lawyer mates who live in a fantasy world detached from the rest of us. They hate strong leadership and decisiveness. You can always rely on this hopeless government to be on the wrong side of history.”
Defence commentators say the row underscores a widening gulf between Washington’s readiness to use force and Labour’s instinct to prioritise caution. For now, ministers insist that cooperation with the US continues “across a broad range of security priorities”. But few doubt that Britain’s decision to step back from America’s drug war has left one of the West’s oldest alliances looking more fragile than at any point in generations.
