Yvette Cooper hosted Australian ministers in London on 10 June 2026 as the UK and Australia used their annual consultations to signal closer coordination on security, diplomacy and military support at a moment both sides described as turbulent. She and John Healey met Richard Marles and Penny Wong for the Australia-UK Ministerial Consultations, with the talks framed around a deteriorating global security environment.
The timing gives the meeting weight. The ministers said the world had grown more dangerous since they last met in July 2025, and they used the London session to restate their commitment to the UK-Australia relationship and to work together on peace, security, growth, economic resilience and universal human rights. For Cooper, the meeting was a chance to show that London still wants the bilateral relationship to do more than trade symbolism for statements. Tony Blair meeting with Yvette Cooper left no minutes in UK files
What made the talks especially sharp was the Middle East. The ministers repeated calls for de-escalation and a resolution to the conflict there, backed the ceasefire between Iran and the US and welcomed ongoing mediation efforts, while also condemning Iran’s continuing attacks on regional countries. They reaffirmed that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon, called on Tehran to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817 and said the Strait of Hormuz must be permanently reopened.
That combination of restraint and condemnation captures the diplomatic squeeze facing both governments. They said navigational rights and freedoms remain fundamental under UNCLOS, highlighted their role in defensive support to partners protecting civilians in the Middle East, and welcomed Australia’s deployment of its E-7A Wedgetail and gifting of Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles, alongside the UK’s Defensive Counter Air operations across the region. Both sides also backed an independent and strictly defensive Multinational Military Mission led by the UK and France.
Australia’s next step is the clearest concrete commitment to emerge from the meeting: it intends to contribute its E-7A Wedgetail aircraft to that mission once it is established. The broader message from London was less specific but just as plain — in a week when the Middle East and maritime security remain entwined, Cooper and her counterparts chose to lean harder into coordinated diplomacy and military planning rather than wait for the crisis to force their hand.
