GB News was halted for a breaking news update – and it was terrible news for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Breakfast show anchor Stephen Dixon challenged the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, Daisy Cooper MP, on her party’s take on Keir Starmer’s actions concerning war in the Middle East.

As the breaking banner flashed across the bottom of the screen, Stephen’s co-star, Ellie Costello, pointed out that an armed boat, HMS Dragon, is due to sail to Cyprus to provide help to defend a UK RAF base there. She added that there are also two £3.2billion aircraft carriers that are “still sat in port”. Daisy then shared her thoughts as she told the hosts: “Let’s be clear about this, events are moving quickly and we need the Prime Minister to be really clear about how he intends our armed forces to be used. If it is truly a defensive action, and he can define what that defensive action is, then yes, we can support that. But we are worried that there is a slippery slope towards offensive action and we do need that definition.”

She went on: “Let’s be honest, our state of war readiness and our state of defence readiness in this country is really not where it needs to be. We are very concerned about that.”

The politician continued to say that the Lib Dems are urging the government to use emergency spending for defence bonds.

Stephen then accused her of using “semantics” as he tried to make out that she was being picky over words. She hit back: “Look, you might call it semantics but in international law, words matter, definitions matter and actions matter.

“It really matters that the government are saying what their intention is for the use of the armed forces. I think we owe it to our armed forces and the military personnel that they know that if the Prime Minister of this country is asking them to do something then they have the certainty to know that they are acting within international law.”

The GB News host then erupted as he said: “But it’s all happening now. It’s no good to sit and talk while Rome burns!” He continued: “Action has to be taken.”

The update comes as Starmer said HMS Dragon – a Type 45 Destroyer – will be sent to bolster security around RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus as the US-Israel war with Iran continues to spiral.

It comes a day after the runway of the British air base in Cyprus, RAF Akrotiri, was hit by a drone – causing what the Ministry of Defence (MoD) described as “minimal damage”.