There is damning new evidence that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ordered the interception of a Russian ‘shadow fleet’ oil tanker in the English Channel in a last-ditch effort to shore up his weakening grip on Downing Street.

The inconvenient proof has emerged after defence experts said that film of the event had been stage-managed.

Sources have said that Sir Keir gave the go-ahead for last weekend’s raid on the Smyrtos by Royal Marines. The PR escapade was driven by the need to produce a ‘PR boost’ for the embattled Prime Minister.

The pantomime raid took place just days after Defence Secretary John Healey quit over the lack of funding for defence.

It was also during the lead-up to the Makerfield by-election, where Labour’s Andy Burnham was bidding, successfully, to return to Westminster to overthrow Sir Keir.

Now, experts reveal that part of the official footage of the raid was stage-managed.

It appeared to show armed commandos being filmed by cameramen who had gone ahead of them as they searched the vessel and descended an internal staircase.

At one point, marines and National Crime Agency officers are shown being given a film director-style instruction, ‘Yeah, hold that’, as they check the contents of a room on the ship.

Tim Ripley, from the respected Defence Eye website, said: ‘The footage of the marines’ intervention raised a lot of eyebrows.

It was clearly stage-managed as the cameraman was at the bottom of the stairs filming before the soldiers cleared the rooms.’

A defence source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘This commando raid was clearly orchestrated by the Downing Street spin machine.

No 10 managed the operation to make sure the cameras were on board beforehand to film the marines’ raid in a desperate attempt to boost Starmer’s ‘strong man’ image just before the G7 summit and after John Healey quit.

It was obviously completely stage-managed. According to the official footage put out by the Ministry of Defence, the camera crew were already inside the tanker and filming the strike team as they descended an internal ladder.

‘We all understand that the Government want to promote an event such as this, but they’ve made it look like a Hollywood movie.’

News of the dramatic raid broke on Sunday morning last week. The Prime Minister himself posted on social media some of the dramatic coverage of Marines rappelling down onto the vessel from two Chinook helicopters.

This took place as part of a six-hour operation billed by the MoD as the ‘first UK-led operation of its kind’.

And Sir Keir himself boasted how, ‘despite Putin’s best efforts to evade sanctions, we will not let him get away with it’.

The Cameroon-registered ship’s captain, a 38-year-old Indian national, has been charged with sanctions offences.

The vessel, allegedly part of a 700-strong Russian shadow tanker fleet, was said to contain 98,000 tons of oil when it was seized.

However, defence sources said that since March, 184 UK-sanctioned vessels have made 238 journeys through UK waters, with none being challenged or boarded.

The MoS was also told that in April and May, 42 Commando was ‘put at notice’ on five occasions to carry out boardings, but each one was cancelled at short notice. Let us know what you think

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