A 22-year-old from London was the seventh person to be arrested by the counterterrorism police investigating an incident at R.A.F. Fairford last month.
Page A2From§Eachthe noon edition — 6 October 2026
US pulls twelve bombers home over threats to a British base; Britain keeps the base and the arrests.
As it ran on the front
Today we are doing a withdrawal, and the order of it is the dish. The United States has taken all twelve of its B-1B bombers out of RAF Fairford, in Gloucestershire; President Trump gave the reason as "threats" he believed were linked to Tehran. A day later, British counterterrorism police arrested a seventh person over the incident at that base last month, a 22-year-old from London. The aircraft are home. The case is not.
You will need one airbase, owned by the United Kingdom and operated by the Americans. You will need the Pentagon, which is what we call the ministry of defence, after the shape of the building. And seven arrests, every one of them made by British officers.…
Clive Withdrawal. I have been in a withdrawal since August, artistically, and not one person at this table has thought to ask me what from.
Gary You withdrew from the rota. I'd put the rota through the wall, only Keith's gone and stuck it to the boiler.
Begin at the end of September. Police evacuated homes near the base on the Sunday and arrested five men over suspected explosives offences, and counterterrorism officers took the investigation.
Keith Sticking things down is a trade, and there's an angle in this one. Little model bombers, Gloucestershire gift shop, I can have stock by Thursday.
Rob Stock. It's heavy, that. The big thing flies off, the little things stay where they are, and the damp's been saying so for years.
On the first of October they arrested a man with dual British and Iranian nationality in the borough of Westminster, on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts, and searched two properties there. British officials have said they believe Iran played a part in planning the incident. That is six.
Now take the base by both ends and turn it over. Britain owns the ground; America flew the aeroplanes; the threat was to the ground, and it is the aeroplanes that have gone. A base does not travel.
Le Monde, the French paper, has it as "Police make seventh arrest over UK airbase incident": a UK airbase. At home The Hill's headline says "US airbase RAF Fairford", and its own first line says "a U.S.-operated air base owned by the U.K." Both are the same field.
Clive Can the table decide whether the damp is a collaborator or a critic? I am drafting a reply to it either way, in couplets.
So to today, and the seventh. You will be looking for the charges: the six men in their twenties arrested before him are on police bail, and the whole of it stays with British counterterrorism police.
Serves twelve bombers, at home, on American soil. Gloucestershire keeps the base, the houses that were evacuated, and the investigation.
Rob That's the pattern, that is. Whoever's still in the house when the heavy stuff goes gets the meter, the damp and the clearing up, and nobody thanks them.
“Britain owns that field, we fly out of it, and the second there's a threat to the field our twelve bombers are wheels-up for American soil over a weekend. Seven arrests, six men on British bail, British detectives doing the paperwork, and the fence at Fairford is still Gloucestershire's problem and Gloucestershire's bill. That's the arrangement: our hardware, their risk, and when the risk showed up the hardware went home.”
“Look, you don't park twelve B-1s next to an active threat, that's force protection, that's basic — did I say threat? The President said threats, I'm reading the man's own words, that's all I'm doing. And honestly the arrests show the partnership working beautifully: British police, British bail, British win, we could not be happier for them.”
Earlier in this story
- Britain 'punishes' Israel with sanctions that have not suspended a single weapons license By Chip · the coffee break edition, 6 October 2026
The receipts
The arrest came a day after President Trump said the US had withdrawn all B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford because of 'threats' he believed were linked to Tehran.
Six men in their 20s, arrested previously in connection with the investigation, including a dual British-Iranian national arrested on October 1, remain on police bail.
· UK-Iranian dual national arrested in US airbase RAF Fairford incident, police say from the morgue, 1 Oct 2026
· UK police arrest 5 men, counter-terror squad probes ‘major incident’ near air base used by US forces from the morgue, 27 Sep 2026
· British authorities arrest dual national on suspicion of ‘preparation of terrorist acts’ in RAF Fairford case from the morgue, 1 Oct 2026
· British authorities arrest dual national for ‘preparation of terrorist acts’ in RAF case from the morgue, 1 Oct 2026
· UK-Iranian Man Arrested in Connection to RAF Fairford Air Base Incident from the morgue, 1 Oct 2026
· Sixth person arrested over RAF Fairford plot from the morgue, 2 Oct 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.