UK Column News — 2nd October 2026

Mike Robinson (0:18)

Good afternoon, it's Friday, the 2nd of October, 2026, just after one o'clock. Welcome to UK Column News. I'm your host, Mike Robinson, joining me in the studio once again. Patrick Henningsen, welcome to the program, Patrick.

Patrick Henningsen (0:27)

It's great to be with you, Mike.

Mike Robinson (0:29)

Also, we're joined by video link by Basil Valentine. Later in the program, we're also going to be joined by Dr. Ranjeet Brar to discuss the latest on the use of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism.

We'll have a report on the Palantir protests that took place yesterday and the latest on the Fly Dubai incident. We're going to begin with RF Fairford, of course, because this narrative is clearly a moving target. The five guys arrested at the time certainly don't look Iranian, Patrick, what are your thoughts?

Patrick Henningsen (0:58)

Well, are these them up on screen? We'll just put that back up on screen as well, Mike. They're all British, right? We're told.

Mike Robinson (1:04)

Yes, we're told that.

Patrick Henningsen (1:05)

And none of them have any tattoos, which, what are the odds of that? Just an observation.

Mike Robinson (1:10)

Yeah, absolutely. Now, as Charles reported on Wednesday's program, despite the holes in the story, which is being put out by the media on Sunday and Monday, and we'll remind ourselves of those in a second, Marco Rubio was absolutely laying the blame for this incident at the door of Iran. Let's just remind ourselves.

Marco Rubio (1:32)

Well, let me preface by saying that I have to be careful. There's some things I cannot say on the air for a lot of different reasons. Suffice it to say that what happened, what almost happened, what could have happened in the UK over the weekend is a very serious situation.

It's one that clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor. I won't get into great detail about that yet. I do want to thank the authorities in the United Kingdom who have been very cooperative and on top of it, I know a lot of people are disturbed by the news that some of these people have been released on bail as some of the people are being investigated.

Obviously, we're engaging with them on all of that. But suffice it to say that beyond that, I would argue that they've been very cooperative and very helpful on something that's a very serious incident.

Mike Robinson (2:13)

So that's how Rubio was presenting it. Trump, of course, was saying that the people involved were being followed for ages, and yet the British authorities didn't seem to know anything about them.

Then yesterday, apparently catching up with the story that the US wanted to impose on the public consciousness. This is what Andy Burnham had to say.

Andy Burnham (2:31)

There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford. But of course, it remains an ongoing complex and serious police investigation. Of course, we're working closely with our colleagues in the United States of America. So, it's ongoing. I have held a COBRA meeting, as I've been here at the conference in Liverpool. We are on top of it in every possible way imaginable. Police in Gloucestershire, our counterterrorism police, have done an outstanding job.

I thank them for that. We will say more in due course, but we can confirm our belief that we believe Iran to have played a part.

Mike Robinson (3:16)

So he believes and he believes that Iran has played a part. But anyway, the question is, where did Rubio and now Burnham get this idea that Iran was intending to carry out some kind of attack on RAF Fairford? Let's just have a listen to this.

Benjamin Netanyahu (3:32)

You talked about this thing in Britain.

You want to hear how absurd things are there and how far the anti-Israel propaganda has gone. We gave the Brits the intel that there was going to be an attack and it's an Iranian sponsored attack and pretty much the next day they slapped sanctions on us, on us. You know, so it's wild. I mean, the caving in, the collapse before the Islamist Marxist Alliance is very dangerous for the future of the West.

Patrick Henningsen (4:06)

Where would we be without Netanyahu holding the gates of Vienna for us?

Mike Robinson (4:10)

Absolutely. So Netanyahu, they're absolutely admitting his role and Israel's role in setting up this narrative. And there's no doubt, I think in my mind, I don't know what your thoughts are, but there's no doubt in my mind that this is some kind of flag.

Patrick Henningsen (4:22)

Well, that's where all reliable intelligence normally originates, Mike, from Israel.