'He's out of control!' Ed Davey tears into Donald Trump's 'appalling' Middle East operation

Sir Ed highlighted that we are in a period of "instability" around the world thanks to the President's "illegal war" and Iran's "appalling response".

He told GB News Chief Political Correspondent Katherine Forster: "People are generally worried, and what I want to show is that the Liberal Democrats have answers and have the courage to stand up for Britain.

"I've been arguing for well over a year that we need to stand up to Trump far, far more firmly, and I think the Prime Minister has been weak on that."

Suggesting that the UK must work more closely with our "European allies" and distance ourselves from the UK, Sir Ed added: "We need to have another strategy for our country. We need to work with our European allies, with our Commonwealth allies far more.

"Both for our economy to protect ourselves from the trade barriers being put up by Donald Trump, and also for our defence and security."

Questioned on whether he believes Mr Trump "knows what he is doing" in the Middle East, Sir Ed was quick to disagree.

He said: "No he doesn't, and I'm really worried that this American President is out of control.

"I say it with sadness because I've always regarded the Americans as a close ally of the UK. But under Donald Trump, they've become a very unreliable ally, both on the economy and on foreign policy.

"And while I'm glad the Prime Minister is beginning to show signs that he's standing up to Trump, we've got to make sure that he really follows through on that."

The Lib Dems leader also took aim at the Tories and Reform UK for being Mr Trump's "cheerleaders" since the start of the Iran war and "egging on" the Government to offer their support.

He told GB News: "I've been very cross all day. The Conservatives and Nigel Farage and Reform have backed Donald Trump, have been their cheerleader, even egging on the Government to try to get them to support this illegal war of Donald Trump.

"And they're not realising the impact it's going to have across the Middle East, on our friends and allies, but also on people and our economy here in the UK."

Calling on them to "apologise" for backing Mr Trump, Sir Ed said: "We're seeing people already struggling with high costs and living, high cost of business, seeing petrol prices go up, worried about what's going to happen to interest rates, what's going to happen to energy bills later this year.

"And given we've been suffering from a cost of living crisis for so long, this is a disaster. Frankly, the Conservatives and Reform should apologize for cheering on this war, and the Government has got to get its act together to show that it will support people who are struggling."

Urging Sir Keir to "stand up" to the US President and "put Britain's interests first", Sir Ed concluded: "I think we just have to stand up to him, because we have to put Britain's interests first.

"The idea that we contract out our foreign policy and our economic policy to Donald Trump is a nonsense, and when people like Nigel Farage basically back him, that's just wrong for our country.

"I hope the Prime Minister, at long last, will listen to the Liberal Democrats, ignore what the Conservatives and Reform are saying, and stand up to this appalling man in the White House.

"We need to call him out, and we need to be strong in calling him out. But you only do that if you have an alternative strategy to protect our country, that's what the Liberal Democrats do have."