Wes Streeting opened his speech to the Labour Party conference with remarks on the security operation around RAF Fairford, telling delegates that the work of the police, the armed forces and the intelligence agencies over the weekend was a small glimpse of what those organisations do unseen every day.
The Defence Secretary told delegates he was constrained by the live police investigation and could add little to what had already been reported. “Given events, you will understand that before getting into my speech today I want to say something about yesterday’s events around RAF Fairford,” he said. “You will understand there is a live police investigation and I can’t provide much further detail than that which is reported.”
He went on: “But I do want to say that our friendship with America is the closest alliance of any two nations on Earth, and we will always stand together against those who hate our freedom and those who wish us harm.
“What we saw yesterday from our security services, our armed forces, and our police, was just a small glimpse of the extraordinary work they do every day, around the clock and around the world, behind the scenes and without recognition, to keep our country safe.
“To all of them, from all of us, thank you.”
Gloucestershire Constabulary declared a major incident on Sunday after arresting a number of men on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act, with properties evacuated in the village of Whelford next to the airfield and residents taken to a leisure centre nearby. In a statement the force said: “A number of properties are currently being evacuated in the Whelford area following the declaration of a major incident. It follows the arrest of several men on suspicion of offences under the explosives act. A cordon is currently in place but we’d like to reassure people that we believe this incident is contained.”
Explosive ordnance disposal teams examined several vehicles at the scene during the operation. ITV News has reported that counter-terrorism officers are investigating whether the plot has any connection to Iran.
Fairford, in Gloucestershire, is a United States Air Force forward operating location rather than an RAF flying station in the usual sense, and its long runway has made it the standing European base for American strategic bombers. B-1B Lancers are currently operating from the airfield, and the base moved to its highest force protection condition before the arrests were made, dispersing aircraft and reinforcing access points.
Bases used by American forces in Britain have drawn protest and intrusion for decades, and Fairford in particular was the subject of a well-known prosecution in the run-up to the Iraq war, when activists who broke into the site and damaged equipment were tried over several years. Those earlier cases turned on trespass and criminal damage, while the weekend’s arrests were made under the Explosives Act and are being handled by counter-terrorism officers.
Streeting used the rest of his speech to argue that the country is living through what he called a new age of insecurity, telling delegates that warfare has returned to Europe and that old alliances are being tested. The passage on Fairford was the only part of the address that touched on the weekend’s events, and he gave no further operational detail.
Anyone with information has been asked to contact Gloucestershire Constabulary, which continues to lead the investigation alongside counter-terrorism officers.
All because a passing farmer spouted it and called into MoD plod who didn’t answer the phone then called main plod who mobilised…..
Could have been very different.
Thing is The Tangerine was perhaps telling something like the truth as they clearly were expecting ram raids given the heavy machinery across the gates.
I suspect the local plod couldn’t have arrest 5 potentially armed blokes in short order. I guess there was more going on here than just a lucky phone call.
You would definitely think so. To be fair the Defence Secretary has gone out of his way to acknowledge it.
He has gone up in my estimation.