A former chair of the Labour Party has accused Kemi Badenoch of being "unpatriotic" for holding Sir Keir Starmer to account for his response over the Iran war. Speaking from her party's Spring Conference in Harrogate, Mrs Badenoch accused the Prime Minister of being a "political hostage held at the behest of a load of half-rate left-wing MPs". She told supporters in Yorkshire: "While the rest of the world rearms, they are playing student politics. Today’s Labour Party is nothing like the patriotic Labour Party of yesteryear." Reacting, Baroness Hayter admitted she was "deeply shocked" the Leader of the Opposition launched an attack on the PM for "strutting the world stage" on previous occasions. TRENDING Stories Videos Your Say She explained: "The way we stop wars is by diplomacy, by talking to our allies, by negotiating. And I find it extraordinary. "She said she paid tribute to our forces. If they are at war, you do not, as the Leader of the Opposition, then start attacking the leadership of those forces, the Prime Minister. "That is not practical. It's not patriotic," she hit out. Although Baroness Hayter agreed more must be spent on defence, she further laid into the Tory leader by arguing the funds would be sourced by reinstalling the two-child benefit cap. The North West Essex MP claimed the welfare cut would fund the recruitment of some 20,000 troops. "I find that really quite shocking. The lack of patriotism, the lack of responsibility from someone who might be Prime Minister, that they cannot support our own Prime Minister in public at a time where, in her words, we are at war," Baroness Hayter told GB News. But presenter Charlie Peters said: "Baroness Hayter, you say we need to stop wars through diplomacy. It's all very good speaking strongly, but you've got to carry that big stick. "You need to be diplomatic through strength. And currently we're not very strong at all. No proper assets in the region. "We have chosen welfare, not war, which is why we've got zero destroyers at sea, but a welfare bill that goes into the hundreds of billions." LATEST ON THE IRAN WAR: Donald Trump vows 'destruction' of Iran and calls Islamic Republic 'loser of the Middle East' WATCH: Drone hits Dubai International Airport before mammoth plume of smoke rises into sky Britain preparing aircraft carrier for possible deployment to Middle East as Iran war deepens "Surely that is the job of the Opposition to be criticising, to be holding the Government's feet to the fire on this... Can you really say that what can we be not doing is today is unpatriotic? Isn't she doing her job as Leader of the Opposition?" co-host Olivia Utley added. Noting the speech was taking place at the party's conference, Baroness Hayter argued it was purely a political speech to win votes, adding: "That is not what you should be doing at a time of war." She later said Sir Keir only amended his decision over allowing the US to use UK military bases to launch strikes in response to the "change of circumstances" as part of defensive operations following Iran's retaliatory strikes. Intervening, co-host Charlie weighed in again saying: "But it was so obvious this was going to happen! "You don't have to be a military genius to realise that Iran was going to start striking American allies in the region, which included us." Firing back, she said: "And we therefore prepared for that!" "No, we didn't!" Charlie responded, swiftly reverting back to Baroness Hayter's argument Mrs Badenoch's opposition was unpatriotic. He said: "At this point, the idea that it's unpatriotic to criticise political decisions around responding to a war is for the birds. Political decisions have left us in this trouble. "We have been reporting here all week that the Royal Navy and military planners presented options to the Prime Minister to redeploy assets, including a naval destroyer, and that decision was not taken. "Sir Keir Starmer's leadership has to come under question here," he added, to which the Baroness flatly responded: "No." Incredulous, Charlie responded: "What do you mean 'no'?" "What has to come into question is how we as a country respond to this global insecurity," Baroness Hayter insisted. In terms of the UK's latest defence operations, Britain is preparing the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales for a possible deployment to the Middle East amid deepening conflict with Iran, GB News understands. The Royal Navy has increased the readiness status of the vessel, cutting the ship's notice period before setting sail from a fortnight down to just five days. Prince of Wales is approaching the conclusion of scheduled maintenance work following its return from the eight-month Operation Highmast in December. Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter