No 10 says Starmer had ‘constructive’ call with Trump on Middle East and strait of Hormuz – UK politics live

PM will meet with the Commons liaison committee and chair the government’s Cobra emergency committee today

Good morning. It is the last week the Commons is sitting before the Easter recess and, in normal circumstances, we would be focusing on domestic policy, and announcements coming out before the holiday period. But today, with the world focused on what will happen if Iran does not comply with the “deadline” set by Donald Trump for the opening of the strait of Hormuz tonight (he says he will “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if he does not get his way), foreign policy will dominate.

Starmer has two important meetings on the topic this afternoon. One of them will be live on TV, but unfortunately it will be the duller and less consequential one – his meetinng with the Commons liaison committee. After that he will chair a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee, where the government will be taking decisions about how it will respond to the possibility that the energy price crisis could get significantly worse. In a sign of how serious the economic consequences could get, Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, is attending.

The prime minister spoke to the president of the United States, Donald Trump, this evening.

The leaders discussed the current situation in the Middle East, and in particular, the need to reopen the strait of Hormuz to resume global shipping.