Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has warned the next few years will be “some of the most dangerous” the UK has ever seen.
Mr Sunak today reeled off a list of things voters should be scared of as he made a desperate general election pitch. In a speech in London, the Prime Minister set out the challenges posed by an “axis of authoritarian states” including Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.
He accused Vladimir Putin of “weaponising” immigration, criticised China for targeting British MPs and warned “aggressive fringe groups” are exploiting uncertainty. He said “At some point in the second half of this year, we will all go to the polls and make a choice, not just about Conservatives versus Labour, or Sunak versus Starmer.
“It will be a choice between the future and the past. Now I remain confident that my party can prevail, not because of our record alone, but because we will be the only party really talking about the future, and not with vague lofty platitudes but with bold ideas and a clear plan that can change our society for the better and restore people’s confidence and pride in our country.”
But, speaking exclusively to the Mirror, intelligence expert Lieutenant-Colonel Crispin Black MBE says Mr Sunak’s concerns could well be true – and that the threat could be all the more real as “people have got too used to living in a happy world“.
He told the Mirror: “People have got too used to living in a happy world. Russia is once again able to pose an existential threat to Europe and the United Kingdom, something we haven’t had to deal with for nearly 40 years. Who’d have thought back in the 1970s and 80s that we would one day experience intense Cold War nostalgia? What seemed at the time a frightening period, the constant threat of nuclear war; huge Russian armoured formations, poised on the border between then East and West Germany with a good route to the Rhine.
“But at least NATO in opposition fielded powerful forces with both the will and capability to defeat the enemy and some strategic depth in defence. In all probability under US command, we could have held GSFG (Group Soviet Forces Germany as our intelligence reports referred to them) on the Rhine. NATO doesn’t have much in the locker these days and the alliance’s eastern border in the Baltic states is not a good place to fight.
“Of course, the real problem is not Vladimir Putin but the rise of China, his major sponsor. The intention of Western politicians was to bind China into a rules-based club presided over by the United States. The Chinese have never seen it that way. Hardly surprising. When we were top nation (from the victory at Trafalgar in 1805 until the beginning of the First World War in 1914) – we called most of the shots in most of the places, most of the time largely thanks to the Royal Navy. We were forced in 1945 to relinquish our place at the top table to the Americans.
“Few people noticed one Anglophone power handing over to another. Just like us they called the shots and constructed a Pax Americana a continuation of Pax Britannica. But the United States hasn’t called the shots for a while (roughly from the Kabul debacle of August 2021). There is bound to be turbulence as US hegemony fades. I doubt the process will be pleasant.
“Some of the key actors are undoubtedly sinister. But what we are seeing is a natural, if fraught and risky, historical process not an inevitable slide towards war. What can we do? Same thing as we have always done (though usually too late) – Spend more money (lots more) on defence and less on other stuff. Now is the time for guns not butter. Stick close to the United States if we can. Still our most important ally. Pray that our political leaders have some judgement and wisdom. And keep our fingers crossed.”