'What's the plan?!' Kemi Badenoch piles pressure on Donald Trump to reveal plan to reopen Strait of Hormuz

Susanna Siddell
Thu, 02 Apr 2026 13:10:18 +0000

Kemi Badenoch has piled pressure on the US President to reveal his strategy to reopen the Strait of Hormuz while oil prices continue to skyrocket across the globe.

Joining GB News this afternoon, the Tory leader laid into Donald Trump because she was "not seeing a plan" from the Commander-in-Chief and demanded he ought to fix "the mess he's made" along the key waterway.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said it was for other nations to "build up some delayed courage" and reopen the route.

Mr Trump called on other countries to "build up some delayed courage" and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He advised: "Go to the Strait and just take it. Protect it. Use it for yourselves."

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But, today, the North West Essex MP told the People's Channel: "I want to know what the plan is. You know, I'm an engineer. I like to see plans. When I worked in that industry, you couldn't just say stuff and hope that it worked.

"I'm not seeing a plan, and that's very concerning. And I also want to see a plan in our country as well, to see our Prime Minister working in the British national interest."

The leader's words on the People's Channel echoed Sir Keir Starmer's criticism of Mr Trump last month when he told MPs he required a "viable thought-through plan with an objective that can be achieved or has a viable prospect of being achieved" after the initial strikes on the Islamic Republic.

On GB News this afternoon, Mrs Badenoch went further in her criticism of the Commander-in-Chief's war efforts, saying: "Donald Trump has been saying all sorts of things.

"We can understand why he started this war in Iran. It's a dangerous regime. It threatens the UK. It is a terrorist regime sponsoring the Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah. But you've got to have a plan.

"And if he's made a mess in the Strait of Hormuz, he's the one that needs to fix it."

Quoting US Secretary of State Colin Powell, the Tory leader simply declared: "If you break it, you own it."

"So that's what I want to see now," she added. "Less of the chit chat, more of a plan and a clear, organised way of bringing this conflict to an end and working for Western interests and from my perspective, the British national interest, too."

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Asked if she now believed Sir Keir Starmer was correct to avoid involvement in the Iran war, she simply responded: "Well, no one asked him to get involved in the war."

She continued: "What we asked was that he expressed support like Canada and Australia did, because we're not on the side of Iran, and also to protect British bases and allow Trump to use our air bases, because we need the US for defence support."

Earlier today, she demanded the "preservation" of the special relationship between the US and the UK - not between Donald Trump and Keir Starmer or "whoever happens to be holding those offices".

The Tory chief said: "We need to preserve it. We need the US. They are a close military ally. They help a lot on British security, we need to do what is in the British national interest.

Mrs Badenoch insisted she wanted to see the “conflict brought to an end”, adding: “It doesn’t feel like there is a co-ordinated plan.

"What we want to see is our Government showing that it is thinking ahead. It is prepared. The best thing it can do right now for our insecurity is increasing supply by drilling our own oil and gas in the North Sea."

Around 40 nations' representatives congregated earlier today at a summit to kickstart efforts to build a coalition to secure security in the key maritime shipping route.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said Iran had been able to "hijack an international shipping route to hold the global economy hostage" after Tehran launched attacks on several vessels in the passageway.

The summit is seeking diplomatic solutions, rather than military action.

Ms Cooper said: "We have seen Iran hijack an international shipping route to hold the global economy hostage.

"This is hitting the trading routes for Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi, Oman, Iraq, but that means liquid natural gas for Asia, fertiliser for Africa, and jet fuel for the world.

"That Iranian recklessness towards countries who were never involved in this conflict, which we and 130 countries across the world have strongly condemned at the United Nations, is not just hitting mortgage rates and petrol prices and the cost of living here in the UK and in many different countries across the world, it is hitting our global economic security."