The United Kingdom “exposed” Cypriots to drone attacks by virtue of maintaining its bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia and leaving them undefended, shadow leader of the House of Commons Jesse Norman, one of the leading figures in the country’s political opposition, said.

“The Cypriot high commissioner and the president of Cyprus have publicly expressed their disappointment and dissatisfaction. Why? Because we have exposed their people and our people to drone attacks as targets, placed weapons systems on their territories, made solemn undertakings to them over many years,” he told the country’s parliament.

However, he said, when the conflict in the Middle East began at the start of this month, the UK “failed to come to their defence in time”.

He described the drone strike on the Akrotiri base and the perceived delayed response to it as “a disastrous failure of political leadership”.

“The prime minister and the cabinet knew, or should have known, for a full month that the US was mustering a vast body of forces to attack Iran, that it could not remain on high readiness indefinitely, and so an attack must surely follow,” he said.

He then pointed out that British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had said that the UK had “pre-deployed” a number of assets to the region, but that “he failed to give instructions in time to the navy to prepare HMS Dragon, he failed to notify the Cypriots, and he failed to warn our allies and other friends across the region”.

The HMS Dragonis a Type 45 destroyer warship which set sail from Portsmouth for Cyprus on Tuesday, with many in the UK arguing that the eight days which elapsed between the drone strike and the ship setting sail amounted to an unacceptably long period of time.

This chain of events, Norman said, amounts to “a fiasco which brought shame and dishonour on this country”.

Additionally, he made reference to reports in the British media regarding decisions made at the outset of the conflict by the UK’s chief of the defence staff Sir Richard Knighton, who had allegedly rejected proposals to deploy an aircraft carrier or other assets to the region because “we have an aircraft carrier – it’s called Cyprus”.

He said those reports, leaked to the media by anonymous sources from inside the British government, constitute “a political hatchet job”.

“It is deeply dishonourable and itself a further sign of failure,” he said, before calling on the leader of the House of Commons Sir Alan Campbell to launch an investigation into the matter.

In response, Campbell charged that Norman’s Conservative Party, which formed the UK’s government between 2010 and 2024, “left our defences in a shocking state”.

“In terms of an inquiry, we are in the midst of an international crisis. If such an inquiry is necessary in the future, it should wait until we ensure that our citizens and our servicemen and women are safe,” he said.

On Wednesday, Starmer had told the UK’s parliament that the ship was delayed in leaving Portsmouth because it was being “carefully … loaded with the anti-strike ammunition and capability that it needs”. It is now expected to arrive in Cyprus next week.

Three AW159 Wildcat helicopters and a Merlin Mk2 helicopter have also since been sent to the island, while British Defence Secretary John Healey visited the island last week and held a meeting with his Cypriot counterpart Vasilis Palmas, before promising that “top experts” had arrived on the island “to help coordinate the air defences”.

However, Starmer’s predecessor Rishi Sunak on Sunday accused him of lacking “strategic acumen” due to perceived delays in the deployment of British assets to the region in the aftermath of a drone strike on Akrotiri base.

“Given how much notice we had of these strikes, why was no ship moved to the Mediterranean to help protect our interests and allies? It is frankly embarrassing that the French appear to be doing more to protect Cyprus than we are, even though Cyprus is only a target because of our sovereign bases there,” he said.

His reference to France came ahead of a visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to Cyprus on Monday, and with the French frigate Languedoc having arrived in Cyprus within 72 hours of the drone strike/

The frigate has since been joined in Cyprus’ vicinity by the aircraft carrier the Charles de Gaulle.