LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) - The British government on Tuesday opened an inquiry into how details of a top-secret national security meeting to discuss a U.S. request to use British military bases at the start of the Iran conflict were leaked to a journalist.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer initially blocked the U.S. from using the air base of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and RAF Fairford in England, before later allowing the U.S. to use the bases for "defensive" strikes against Iranian targets.
Senior ministers who attended a meeting of the National Security Council were divided over whether to grant the initial U.S. request, the Spectator magazine reported.
While Starmer was in favour of giving the U.S. permission to use the bases, there was opposition from his energy minister Ed Miliband and his finance minister Rachel Reeves, according to the report in the Spectator, which was then picked up by several media outlets.
Antonia Romeo, the government's most senior official, said in a letter to an opposition party politician that the leak inquiry had started. She said leaks undermine Britain's relations with other countries, particularly the U.S.-led "Five Eyes" intelligence alliance.
The government "is conducting an inquiry into this unauthorised disclosure which draws on the full range of powers at their disposal," she wrote in the letter.
Asked for comment, a government spokesperson said: "We don't have anything to add to the letter for now."
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly hit out at Starmer since the conflict with Iran started, complaining he was not doing enough to help him.
On Monday, Trump said there were "some countries that greatly disappointed me" before he singled out Britain, which he said had once been considered "the Rolls-Royce of allies".
(Reporting by Sarah Young and Catarina Demony, Editing by Paul Sandle)
