The man who led the Strategic Defence Review has told MPs that the Prime Minister has still not launched the national conversation on defence and security he committed to, despite having personally accepted the recommendation and despite NATO warning of a potential armed attack on the alliance within three years.
Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, the former NATO Secretary-General who led the SDR, told the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy on 27 April that he had reminded the Prime Minister on a couple of occasions about his commitment but that the government had failed to act.
“Despite me reminding the Prime Minister on a couple of occasions about his commitment to it, the Government have not started this conversation,” he said, adding that he understood there had been “a conversation about a conversation recently inside the Ministry of Defence, but there are no signs of it outside it.”
Robertson described the absence of action as regrettable given the urgency of the threat picture, noting that the Prime Minister himself had said at Munich that NATO expected a potential armed attack before the end of the decade, which Robertson pointed out was now only three years away. “You would have thought that it is a matter of some urgency,” he told the committee.
The SDR, published last year, recommended the national conversation as recommendation 26, calling for “a two-year series of public outreach events across the UK, explaining current threats and future trends, the role wider society must play in the UK’s security and resilience.” Robertson told MPs the Prime Minister had accepted all the review’s recommendations, making the failure to act on this one particularly difficult to explain.
When asked what was stopping the conversation from taking place, Robertson was careful to note that as reviewers rather than ministers, the question was ultimately one for government. But he was clear about the consequences of continued delay. “It would be horrible to think that it would take an actual crisis, an actual attack on the United Kingdom, before we woke up to the kinds of threats that are facing us,” he said.
Dr Fiona Hill, who co-authored the SDR, told the committee the problem was partly one of narrative, saying the public tended to think of war only in kinetic terms while the country was already experiencing tens of thousands of cyberattacks on a daily or weekly basis, risks to critical national infrastructure and subsea cables, and the kind of economic disruption now visible from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. “It would be very easy to have most of daily life brought to a halt, but that is not being explained to the British public,” she said.
Hill said the UK had never had its equivalent of Germany’s Zeitenwende moment, the fundamental reckoning that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, noting that even the Salisbury poisonings had failed to produce one. “We had the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, which turned him into a dirty bomb spreading polonium all over London. There was the poisoning of the Skripals with enough Novichok to take out all of Salisbury. Even that did not have an effect,” she said.
Hes yet act on any thing, still dithering and delaying.
Does kicking the can down the road count as ‘acting’?
Under MOD rules yes, as its doing some thing, so he covered and not lying, much
“a conversation about a conversation“ How very Yes Prime Minister. Hardly gives you confidence when if this NATO premonition comes about or even another Salisbury this PM could go down in history about as positively as Chamberlain, who in reality was arguably less culpable for following events. Has he no self awareness at all.
Chamberlain’s government actually initiated the rearming the country, something which can’t be said of this government!
Modern politicians have little interest in defence, only rhetoric.
This PM is no different, their interests lie elsewhere.
I hope the BBC picks up Lord Robertson’s comments.
As for Starmer and his speech at Munich, well, he talks tough and Grandstands with the best of them.
I hope Trump publicly ridicules him again.
And Healey is no better. Clueless a month ago at how many Escorts the RN possessed, he was subject of a nauseating MoD PR video the other day, striding purposely along, waving arms around to express “what we’ve done for Defence.”
He ommited an awful lot of what he’s cut and what he’s dithered, delayed, and the billions demanded yearly in savings yearly from the Tresuary.
Meanwhile, we have 5 Frigates left, as Iron Duke was quietly withdrawn.
Grandstand THAT, then.
Tories and Labour have been totally hopeless over the last quarter century with defence equipment issues. Fed up seeing both the main political parties blamey each other for the situation we are in with defence, they are both to blame. ‘Guilty as charged.’ Just talking about the RN escorts I remember looking at the list of Destroyers and Frigates between the time of 2008 through to 2010 – Still had around 26 Escorts in total at that time. But when I looked at the details of the out of service dates for each ship and then spent some time searching the web, there was absolutely nothing when it came to new Frigate orders or even any sign of future orders, new at that moment there was going to be potentially huge problems for the Royal Navy in the future, so frustrating. Talking to My Uncle recently who proudly served in the Royal Navy for over 20 years said.. ‘They need to get their bloody finger out and start to do something pronto to rebuild capabilities, will take some years to bring back the right balance to our armed forces’. And of course he is absolutely right, but will our current government or generally the House of Commons get to grips and start to sort the current problems in question, I struggle to believe that. I so hope I’m wrong though.
Reform won’t be any better. They have only committed to 2.5%. They will have the same economic challenges as any other party that comes to office.
Very much so mate.
And people still act surprised when the US slams NATO about not taking defence seriously.
Its like they might be on the money or something
Said it before about him and other politicians, the present bunch are Fabian communists with one aim. Sadly I have reached a conclusion that only a massive and direct attack on the UK will galvanize politicos into the real world as the rest of us see it. Will it happen?
Imagine no power for millions for a long period, no food on shop shelves. Imagine as in the Wilson days, Intel services and Armed Forces feel the country is on that slope to Bedlam. Proxy war can be directed at us by hostile states without much effort.
This man, his friends in the Lawyers Cabal are not interested in the UK, its defence, or its people. When clowns are elected ( think Bojo ) you get what you ask for. Politicians talk the talk, only one, in 1982 walked the walk.
Not in 1982, but in the immediate years after, when she increased the proportion of spend on Defence. It’s not about her sending the taskforce, it’s about paying for it. Blair sent troops to war on a peacetime budget.
She may not have served, but she was the last PM who was an adult during WW2. I sometimes wonder if that’s why later PMs have been so blinkered.