If all the former defence and security chiefs who have warned about the critical weakness of Britain’s defences were gathered together, it would make an impressive multidisciplinary task force. Indeed, that is what they have become, a kind of bemedalled and highly experienced A-team intent on saving the nation’s defences from further neglect.
Their sorties are becoming more frequent and undertaken with increasing firepower. In recent weeks, we have heard from George Robertson, former head of Nato; Admiral Sir John Radakin, until last September chief of the general staff; Colonel Tim Collins of Iraq war fame; Sir Alex Younger, the former head of MI6; General Sir Richard Barrons, the former joint forces command; and numerous former defence secretaries, including Sir Ben Wallace.
Now, speaking to The Independent, the much-respected former Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup – who served as chief of the defence staff when Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were in No 10 – echoes his comrades’ fears. He thinks that Britain needs “a complete change of mentality” to put it on a war footing, and he is right.
The Labour government’s target is to raise core defence spending from about 2.4 per cent of national income now to 3.5 per cent by 2035. Lord Stirrup says that such long deadlines cannot be a way to evade this urgent task: “We are badly exposed as a country. We have a long, long way to go. We require 10 years of sustained investment in defence to restore our position. A 10-year process does not mean, as the government often seems to think, that you can leave everything until year eight, nine or 10.”
It is a wide and growing “coalition of the willing” in defence circles that confronts the prime minister and his colleagues, and there are some signs that the public is waking up to Britain’s vulnerability. No doubt other powerful figures will join battle in the coming weeks, answering Lord Robertson’s call to defend a Britain “in peril” not so much from the UK’s known enemies, but from the “corrosive complacency” of the government and, in particular, the “non-military experts in the Treasury” committing “vandalism”.
Lord Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary, was commissioned by Sir Keir Starmer to compile the Strategic Defence Review published last year. It is a fine piece of work but has effectively been ignored, and the defence investment programme, which should set out how the aims of the review will be achieved, is ridiculously late. Sources suggest it won’t be ready until the summer recess. This is unacceptable, and it is making the prime minister look weak. Meanwhile, Russia and other hostile powers continue to strengthen their war machines and develop new drone and AI technologies, and America edges towards exiting Nato.
There is, therefore, no excuse for delay, even if there are formidable pressures on the public finances. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, seems to almost resent spending on defence, and this has clearly riled Lord Roberson and the defence establishment. She is of course right to emphasise that no country can be secure if its public finances are in chaos and its wider economy is weak. The depressing effects of the war in Iran are exacerbating those challenges. But it is the job of a prime minister to tell his chancellor what the government’s priorities are, and it is her job to find the money.
Lord Robertson declares that “we cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare budget”. That may not necessarily be true, but the funds to defend the realm and deter attacks must be found now in order to prevent far more economic catastrophes in future. As Lord Stirrup reflects: “I see no signs at the moment of the required determination and leadership in the government that’s required to do this because, of course, it requires extremely difficult choices.” No doubt John Healey, the present defence secretary, privately shares the views expressed by the government’s critics, and he has allies in cabinet too. Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has publicly urged the chancellor to “find the money from somewhere”, suggesting he would support cutting the welfare budget to fund a rise in defence spending.
It can never be forgotten in any of these debates that a government that has been in power for 20 months cannot easily or quickly repair the hollowing out of defence and industrial capabilities that has gone on for many years, with particularly lean times inflicted on the forces under the austerity regime of the coalition government. Sir Keir and Ms Reeves are being subjected to some heavy incoming barrages about their dithering, but the UK’s unreadiness today is not really their fault.
What they can do – and it is their highest duty to do so – is to commit to the clear incremental improvements in funding and performance that the Strategic Defence Review outlined, including learning the lessons of the Ukraine and Iran conflicts. That means investing in drones, counter-drone defences, cyber attacks, the defence of civilian infrastructure and the application of AI.
At a time of such obvious international volatility, clear threats and a sadly weakening Western alliance, spending on rebuilding the forces to deter threats should be seen as the shrewdest investment of all. It can’t wait any longer.
