Ex-Nato boss warns Britain’s safety ‘in peril’ in searing warning to Keir Starmer
The searing intervention – from prominent Labour defence expert Lord George Robertson – will set alarm bells ringing across Westminster amid the US/Israel war in the Middle East
The PM – pictured over visiting aircrew in Saudi Arabia – is under increasing pressure over delays to the 10-year defence investment plan(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Keir Starmer has been savaged by a former Nato boss who has warned Britain’s security is “in peril” due to a “corrosive complacency” from political leaders.
Lord George Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary and who led the Government’s Strategic Defence Review (SDW), blamed the ballooning welfare budget and a lack of urgency from the PM for the UK being unprepared for war.
The respected figure will use a lecture on Tuesday evening to accuse those in charge of “lip service” and warn the Iran war must be a “rude wake-up call” to ministers to act. In the speech, he will say: “We are underprepared. We are underinsured. We are under attack. We are not safe… Britain’s national security and safety is in peril.”
Mr Starmer is under increasing pressure over delays to the 10-year defence investment plan, which was meant to be published in autumn last year to deliver the SDR’s plans.
The PM yesterday told MPs the plans were being “finalised” but refused to say when they would be released. He said he did not want to repeat mistakes of previous Tory administrations because “we inherited plans that were unfunded and not deliverable”.
READ MORE: 6 key points as Keir Starmer warns world ‘has utterly changed’ after Iran war
Lord Robertson told the Financial Times there was a gap between the Prime Minister’s rhetoric on defence and the action he had delivered, saying Mr Starmer was “not willing to make the necessary investment”.He will accuse “non-military experts in the Treasury” of “vandalism”, according to extracts of his speech published by the newspaper. He will say: “We cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare budget.”
And Lord Robertson will criticise Rachel Reeves for having “used a mere 40 words on defence in over an hour” in her Budget speech last year, while last month “in the Spring Statement she used none”.
He will add: “There is a corrosive complacency today in Britain’s political leadership. Lip service is paid to the risks, the threats, the bright red signals of danger — but even a promised national conversation about defence can’t be started.”
The former Nato secretary general will also address Donald Trump’s criticism of the security alliance, saying: “Recent days have shown that the role and priorities of the United States have shifted, and will never be the same again.”
The searing intervention – from a prominent Labour defence expert – will set alarm bells ringing across Westminster, as ministers scramble to deal with the fallout of the US/Israel war in the Middle East.
The Government has committed to spend 2.5% of gross domestic product on defence by 2027, increasing to 3% in the next parliament and a Nato-agreed target of 3.5% by 2035.
The Financial Times reported that there is a funding gap of around £28billion in the existing plans, and the Ministry of Defence, Treasury and Downing Street are deadlocked over how to proceed with the new 10-year plan. A Government spokesman said: “We are delivering on the Strategic Defence Review to meet the threats we face. It is backed by the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War, with a total of over £270 billion being invested across this Parliament. “We are finalising our defence investment plan that we will publish as soon as possible, putting the best kit and technology into the hands of our forces, rebuilding British industry to make defence an engine for growth and doubling down on our own commitment to Nato.”
