Damning new evidence that Sir Keir Starmer ordered the interception of a Russian ‘shadow fleet’ oil tanker in the English Channel in a desperate effort to shore up his weakening grip on Downing Street 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, driven by the need to produce a ‘PR boost’ for the embattled Prime Minister just days after Defence Secretary John Healey quit over 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 oust Sir Keir.

And the raid came on the eve of the G7 summit and a potential confrontation with US President Donald Trump, who famously declared in March that the Prime Minister was ‘not Winston Churchill’.

Now, experts have claimed that part of the official footage of the raid was ‘stage-managed’, as 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.’

And a defence source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘This commando raid was clearly orchestrated by the Downing Street spin machine, who managed the operation to make sure the cameras were on board straight away 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.

Royal Marines were pictured intercepting Russian shadow fleet vessel Smyrtos this week alongside officers from the National Crime Agency 

However defence sources have suggested the operation was ‘orchestrated by the Downing Street spin machine’ 

‘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.’

However, No 10 insisted last night that the claims over the timing and coverage of the raid were ‘completely false’. A Government spokesman said: ‘The operation was the result of weeks of military and operational planning.’

MoD sources insisted Downing Street had nothing to do with the video footage of the raid, which they said was used to deter Russian shadow fleet activity and also to demonstrate the significance of the Royal Navy to the security of our waters.

They insisted that the footage of armed marines descending the staircase was ‘live’ and filmed by the soldiers themselves, although they admitted that that part of the vessel would already have been made safe.

News of the dramatic raid broke on Sunday morning last week, with the Prime Minister himself posting on social media platform X some of the dramatic coverage of marines roping down on to the vessel from two Chinook helicopters 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 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.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks to the media on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France this week

However, defence sources said that since March, when British forces were given permission to intercept Putin’s shadow fleet passing through British waters, 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.

That has sparked suspicions that last week’s operation went ahead only because the PM was reeling from the resignation of his Defence Secretary, and because Sir Keir was about to face Mr Trump and other world leaders at the G7 summit in France.

The raid also came just five days before last Thursday’s Makerfield by-election, seen as a referendum on Sir Keir’s premiership and which was won by his would-be replacement Mr Burnham.

Both No 10 and the MoD insisted last night that the raid was weeks in the planning, with sources insisting the video footage was released to deter the Russian shadow tanker from operating illegally in and around British waters.

A Government spokesman said: ‘The PM set out in March that we would interdict shadow fleet vessels at a time and place of our choosing, and that is exactly what we have done, alongside our allies.’