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Golf, ‘Beer Starmer' and a toxic gas leak – on board an aircraft carrier with the PM

Golf, ‘Beer Starmer' and a toxic gas leak – on board an aircraft carrier with the PM

Telegraph25-04-2025

It is 2.08am when the alarm sounds aboard HMS Prince of Wales. A voice crackles over the tannoy. 'Atmospheric alarm.' And then: 'Engine room.'
This is not a drill. Toxic gases are leaking from one of the aircraft carrier's diesel generators, reaching dangerous levels in the room housing it. Duty officers scramble into action.
Sir Keir Starmer is among those awakened. In one of the two VIP suites on board, he pulls on his naval fleece embroidered with the words 'Prime Minister' and investigates.
'Like everybody else, I was woken up by the alarm,' Sir Keir recalls later on Thursday morning, a little less rested than hoped.
'I remembered the briefing from the night before, which was somebody will come and tell you if you need to move. But I was still concerned enough to get up... and have a look to see what was going on.'
The situation is soon resolved. Crew members don gas masks and venture into the engine room and fix the problem. The exact cause is not disclosed on secrecy grounds.
By 2.50am, a second alarm sounds, alerting all on board – Sir Keir included – that the problem is over. And so, with the vessel gently rocking, some more sleep can now be had.
The incident is hardly the most dramatic thing to have happened aboard this enormous machine, but it is rare. Only around once a month is a problem deemed serious enough to send out a vessel-wide alert, let alone one in the middle of the night.
In a way, it underscores why Sir Keir is aboard in the first place, becoming the first Prime Minister since Harold Wilson in 1966 to spend a night at sea on a Royal Navy ship.
'I like to meet people in their work environments,' Sir Keir says. 'You understand things far better than you ever could from a briefing. You get a better perspective on what it is really like.'
He took the same approach last month, joining the Trident missile-carrying HMS Vanguard as it returned from sea after 204 days underwater, when those on board finally learnt of not just births but bereavements while they were away. The personal stories stuck with him.
The Telegraph was invited to join the Prime Minister as he spent Wednesday evening aboard HMS Prince of Wales before its latest voyage. It will head up the so-called 'carrier strike group' that this week begins a long trip to the Indo-Pacific, via the Gulf. Eighteen F-35 fighter jets will be on board. Frigates and destroyers will bob alongside, providing cover.
It all amounts to the biggest British naval embarkation since the Falklands War, when all the UK military assets involved are added up. More than 4,000 British troops will be involved in the voyage. The carrier can hold a whopping 1,600 at one time.
But it is not Britain alone. The Norwegians have a vessel joining for the whole journey, and the Canadians will be present at the start. Australia will take part in war games later on.
It is a message of 'unity' from the West, says the Prime Minister – one clearly being sent to Beijing, whose ambitions in the IndoPacific look set to become one of the great geopolitical challenges of the next decade.
The trip starts on Wednesday afternoon as Sir Keir, travelling with John Healey, the Defence Secretary, catches a military plane down to the south-west after Prime Minister's Questions and then helicopters onto the carrier.
The vessel, essentially a moving landing strip for military planes, is vast. It drops eight levels below the flight deck, and the control tower rises up another nine.
Crew members say it can take four months to learn your way through the labyrinth of corridors and stepladders. One tells us that 'it's like the Crystal Maze' when showing us the way after landing.
Sir Keir's and Mr Healey's first stop is for a briefing about the voyage ahead.
Cdre James Blackmore, the commander of the carrier strike group, sits between the pair in uniform on a sofa, tracking the route on the map spread out before him. Hand hovering over the waters above Australia, Cdre Blackmore says: 'China will be watching.'
Dinner is held around a coffin-shaped table built to match that in the Cabinet Room – deliberately, in case the Prime Minister has to run the country from the sea.
A TV screen beams the scene on the flight deck live. Silver goblets and figurines from past missions – 'trophies', to use official Royal Navy parlance – glitter around the room's edge.
Then it is off to the Wardroom, the dark wood bar for senior sailors. Alcohol is allowed on board, but there is a two-drink daily limit for the juniors.
A portrait of Queen Elizabeth hangs by the fridges; King Charles's official portrait for the Navy is yet to be issued. The walls are dotted with dramatic scenes of the carrier at sea.
On comfy green sofas, soldiers are slumped in their military attire – desert camouflage for the F-35 pilots; dark green for the helicopter crews; and blue for the Royal Navy sailors.
Sir Keir pours a bottle of Coors into a glass and settles into a free spot. He hears stories of 'mixed emotions' – heading off with excitement but leaving loved ones behind.
One sailor, a father, tells the Prime Minister: 'You're going on an epic adventure, and at the same time, your family is dealing with everything at home.'
Sir Keir responds: 'I am really struck by that. The extent that the family is serving their country because you are serving your country.' It is a theme of many of his conversations.
Before moving on to another group, Sir Keir is surprised by two young female soldiers who offer up an unexpected gift: a cartoon image of him drinking, dubbed with the words 'Beer Starmer'.
It is a meme, apparently. One of them explains: 'If your phone's ringing, it's the Prime Minister. Beer Starmer. You have to have a drink.' It supposedly pings around WhatsApp groups on Fridays.
The Prime Minister laughs and poses with the gift for the cameras. It is not his last of the trip. A bottle of expensive Johnnie Walker Blue Label is later handed over.
It is 11pm when Sir Keir completes the final selfie requests in the bar. His night, albeit interrupted, is more comfortable than that of his team, who squeeze into spare bunks and cabin beds.
The night-time dramas do not stop Mr Healey, 65, from joining the 6am circuit practice on Thursday morning. It takes place in the vast hold area for aircraft, with a row of helicopters as the backdrop for 80 or so soldiers exercising.
As Britain's flagship aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales has the mental well-being of soldiers woven into its DNA. A golf simulator, privately funded, is on board for relaxation.
Bulbs designed to mimic natural sunlight – the same ones that are used to help with Seasonal Affective Disorder – are dotted inside. Ice baths are available. One senior sailor says they 'swear by' dunking into the cold for six minutes each day.
A buffet breakfast of sausages, beans, bacon and eggs is on offer at the junior mess hall when Sir Keir joins. There is plenty of fresh water too. The carrier uses reverse osmosis to create 150 tonnes of the stuff from seawater every day.
Later on, the Prime Minister gives a pep talk to a circle of a few dozen soldiers. It offers a sense of the significance he sees in this military mission out East.
Speaking from a small stand, he says: 'The UK is in the lead position, showing our commitment to global stability.
'That is an incredible message to our adversaries… It is an incredible show of unity to our allies and our commitment to Nato [the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation].'
By now, the sun is up, streaming through holes in the clouds. The carrier, constantly on the move – it can travel 500 miles a day – bobs off the coast around 20 miles south of Plymouth.
And then it is time for a hint of the military might. An F-35, the fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, American-made, hovers around 10 metres above the carrier before lowering down.
'Incredible,' mutters the Prime Minister, marvelling from the flight control centre. Another jet uses just 100ft of runway to launch off one end of the carrier, deliberately curved up, and into the sky.
The mission to the Indo-Pacific is not without its dangers. Chinese vessels are expected to physically track the vessel's movements. 'Posturing' is the official term for it. The UK does this to Russian vessels too when they pass through British waters.
But uncertainty remains. One veteran of tracking vessels controlled by hostile nations gives a nod to the risks involved: 'It can depend on how ballsy their captain is.'
The exact duration of the voyage, which will include multiple military exercises, is not made public. All crew members will say is that they will be back before Christmas.
Speaking to The Telegraph as the visit nears its end, Sir Keir is asked what message is being broadcast to the Chinese by sending this carrier strike group their way.
He says: 'It is a real statement of intent in terms of UK global leadership. Particularly when we get down to the Indo-Pacific and we are then training with the allies in that region, I think that's when it'll become quite real.'
And then the time is up. A pair of helicopters whisk Sir Keir and his entourage back to the mainland, where, with one eye on next week's local elections, the Prime Minister will do some campaigning before the weekend.
As the choppers descend on a football pitch near Bristol, it is clear that the pristine case carrying a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label, hand delivered by one of the air crew, has made it back. There is no sign of the cartoon 'Beer Starmer'.

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