Hello from The National and welcome to the View from London – your weekly guide to the big stories from our London bureau
Coming to grips
What does a handful of major government statements in the first couple of days this week say about Iran's threat to the UK?
Less than you might think, because there is clearly more happening than the authorities can get a handle on.
Iran has raised the stakes in its effort to sabotage military bases in the UK, with Tehran behind several plots, the head of Britain's domestic intelligence service has warned.
Authorities have arrested scores of people suspected of working for Iran, as the level of state-backed threats against the UK exceeds terrorism and extremist activity, Ken McCallum, the director general of MI5, revealed on Tuesday.
“Over the last 12 months, our Iran-linked operations have led to more than 50 arrests in the UK,” he said. “The other major shift this year has been Iranian ambitions to come at harder targets, like military sites.”
After all, the withdrawal of US bombers and a major alert at a prime American intelligence site are just two of the developments so far in October.
Harder line
A growing number of MPs are speaking about the "systematic campaign" against UK interests. In particular they want the government to set out explicit consequences the UK would mete out for any further aggression.
Liberal Democrat spokesman Mike Martin, who served on several tours with the Intelligence Corps in Afghanistan, urged Britain's Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to take much tougher action against the regime, which has been blamed for several attacks and plots, including the recent incident at RAF Fairford, a base that had been used by US aircraft.
“Sometimes offence is the best form of defence, and I wonder whether the Home Secretary has considered that perhaps we need to increase the costs on the Iranians for their actions and considered signalling that fact to the Iranians to deter them from future activity,” said Mr Martin.
Mr McCallum warned that an even greater threat existed in other countries, raising the prospect of Iran's more "aggressive and sophisticated" tactics spreading to the UK.
Inching back?
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has proclaimed the Brexit project has not delivered. So it is that a new dance of destiny begins with the Brussels bloc.
The Bank of England estimates a loss to our gross domestic product of 6 per cent to 8 per cent – this at a time of increased global competitiveness, rising protectiveness and sovereignty, energy crisis, supply chain difficulties, rising cost of living, threat of AI to jobs, when just adding 1 per cent is a tough bar.
Here was the UK saying goodbye to 6 per cent. Just like that, writes Chris Blackhurst. As welcome as they are, trade deals have helped plug the gap, but they only go so far. We had a huge customs-free market on our doorstep, and we blew it.
Business investment post-Brexit also fell, down, according to estimates, by between 12 and 18 per cent.
Fallen sway
Is it a coincidence that these lost years are leeching into diplomatic sway more broadly? Britain’s overseas aid budget was slashed from 0.5 per cent of its gross national income to 0.3 per cent, at a time when conflicts are increasing worldwide.
In the past few weeks there has been an escalation of conflict in a series of countries where the UK for years has held so-called pen-holder powers at the UN Security Council, without much impact.
The UK's ability to enforce the laws of war and human rights on the world stage is dwindling, experts have warned. Yasmine Ahmed, senior director at Amnesty International, is one of many to look askance at the lost scope to make a difference.
“What we’re finding now is that the UK and certainly other European states and other western states don’t have as much leverage as they used to,” Ms Ahmed said. “There is less space to be values-driven.”
Defence shield
We've had a glimpse at a defensive shield designed to go around warships using large numbers of low-cost laser-guided rockets. The idea is a substitute for the expensive interceptors such as Patriot systems that were expended at high rates in the Iran war.
It has completed successful sea trials in the Mediterranean, including a French Navy counter-drone exercise off Toulon.
Rampart can also be used as a ground-based system to protect airports, military bases and civilian areas.
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