Reid insists US support for Britain is ‘unstinting’
Defence secretary John Reid has insisted that America is standing firm in support and sympathy for the UK amid criticism of a ban that was imposed on US troops visiting London.
The US air force issued a military order calling on all UK-based troops to stay out of the M25 area in the wake of last week’s terrorist attacks on the capital.
The order has since been rescinded amid criticism that it undermined the “business as usual” message purported by the British government.
And speaking on BBC One’s Breakfast, Dr Reid said the US had been “pretty unstinting” in their support for UK during the crisis.
“From the president down, far from avoiding London we have had unstinting support and offers of people to come to London from the FBI and other agencies in order to assist us in trying to find out who’s behind this,” Dr Reid said.
“The Americans have been pretty unstinting in their support for us. The first offer I got of support from anybody was from Donald Rumsfeld who said anything we wanted he would send here, anything that was necessary.”
The defence secretary said the decision over the ban had been taken locally in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.
“[It took place] at the same time as many, many British people were being told as well to stay out of the centre of London, not only because of the lack of clarity, but also because of the burden on the operations of the emergency services themselves,” he said.
The US has about 12,000 military personnel based in the UK, most of them stationed at the RAF air bases of Lakenheath and Mildenhall.
