Mark Lyall Grant

The news, broken by Bloomberg, is one of Andy Burnham's first significant military decisions since becoming prime minister this summer.

Former UK National Security Advisor Mark Lyall Grant told the BBC it's symbolically important.

I don't think in military terms it's very significant.

What the Saudis really want, and what they asked President Trump for, was for America to join in actually bombing the Houthis-

Yes

... themselves, as America and Britain did in the beginning of twenty twenty-four, and that isn't something that Andy Burnham's government is offering.

Mark Lyall Grant there speaking to BBC's Newsnight.

The UK will begin refueling Saudi jets on missions that it considers defensive in the coming days.

Hi, Ben.

And I'm pleased to say we're also joined for the first half of the program by Sir Mark Lyall Grant, a former career diplomat who was the UK's permanent representative to the United Nations for six years, uh, and served as National Security Advisor to David Cameron and Theresa May.

Good to have you with us in the studio, Mark.

Good evening, Ben.

If you compare that to the Americans, you know, they have one set of systems.

Uh, and so if we're gonna be serious about getting closer to our European partners and maximizing the, the buck, the bang that you can get from your, your European buck, you've got to do some really close collaboration, which has proved very, very difficult in the past.

Sir Mark, Sir Mark Lyall Grant, thanks very much indeed for coming in, um, to join us.

You can now [laughs] you can now go to your bed-