The defence secretary, Wes Streeting, has spoken to the media from the Labour party conference this morning about the incident near RAF Fairford. Streeting said he was grateful for the vigilance of the members of the public who are thought to have helped alert the emergency services to the suspected terror plot. He renewed his thanks in particular to the local farmer who rang the police after she reportedly saw “a large group of hooded and masked men” near RAF Fairford early on Sunday morning.
Speaking to the BBC, the farmer said she thinks “someone dropped the ball” by allowing the suspects and their vehicles to get so close to people’s homes. Thank you to that member of the public. She has done exactly what we would hope that someone in that extraordinary situation would do.
I’m really grateful to her – I think she acted, by her own admission, quickly and thoughtfully, and she did the right thing. With respect, though, she does only have a partial picture. And that’s as far as I wish to go this morning.
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