David Lammy makes dire prediction on when Europe will go ‘again to regular’ after battle

David Lammy warned Europe is “on a knife edge” and said the post-Cold War era of peace is over.

The Foreign Secretary revealed he is often asked when things will go back to normal – but said they will not. In a keynote speech at the Foreign Office he said Donald Trump is right to say European governments must ramp up defence spending.

He said: “We have to accept that there is no going back, we must stop the 1990s clouding our vision.

“The post-Cold War peace is well and truly over. This is a changed strategic environment. The number of conflicts higher than at any time since 1945, a spectre of famine from Gaza to Sudan and the most refugees and displaced people on record.”

He added that he is sometimes asked when “will things get back to normal” – stating: “My answer is that they will not. Europe’s future security is on a knife edge.”

He said his department was “rudderless” after years of Tory chaos. He said: “Britain’s influence under the Tories was at a very low ebb.

“The Conservatives’ foreign policy legacy maybe less tangeable to voters than NHS waiting lists, but it was just as damaging. ” He said relations with Europe had plunged to a post-war low, while global investors were “horrified” by Liz Truss’s “kamikaze budget”.

And he said that Donald Trump, who will return to the White House on January 20, is “simply right” to say that Europe needs to do more on defence. He said: “Donald Trump and (Vice President-elect) JD Vance are simply right when they say that Europe needs to do more to defend its own continent.

“It’s myopia to pretend otherwise with Russia on the march.”

Mr Lammy said the Government will set out a “clear pathway” to spend 2.5% of national income, but did not say when this would be achieved.