Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, said on Sunday that Britain needs to learn the lessons of Iraq and not outsource its foreign policy to other countries.

“It is our job as the UK government to decide what’s in the UK national interest, and that doesn’t mean simply agreeing with other countries or outsourcing our foreign policy to other countries,” she told the BBC.

She said that it was important to “learn the lessons” from the Iraq war in 2003 and its aftermath when British forces fought alongside their US counterparts.

Sir Keir Starmer opted against granting the US military permission to use British bases for the first wave of military action, but then said the UK would engage in defensive operations after Iran attacked countries throughout the Middle East.