A recent report issued by a House of Commons Committee has called upon the British government to reinforce the UK’s soft power and defence engagement strategies.
This directive underscores the crucial role that a nation’s appeal and its ability to affect other countries play in the grand scheme of diplomacy.
The Committee’s report stated, “The UK’s position in the world comes from more than its hard power. Its attractiveness as a nation and its ability to influence other nations is a critical component to statecraft.”
Among the highlighted elements of the UK’s soft power is its cultural influence. The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, as an example, vividly exemplifies this aspect of military culture. This event creates a platform for the UK to engage in casual conversations with globally influential individuals. Alongside, the nation’s hard power assets, like Royal Navy ships, could be deployed to realise soft power goals.
The report notes that the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) global impact is asserted through its Global Defence Network, and recognises the indispensable work done by Defence Attachés. Nevertheless, it suggests that the network could stand to benefit from “enhancements around career paths and development, language skills and educational institutions” to further professionalise and amplify its effectiveness.
The Government has a standard window of two months to respond to these recommendations.
UK soft power has taken a terrible beating as of late primarily due to Brexit as well as drastic cuts to the foreign aid budget which unfortunately did not go to defence as many of us had hoped. While we may still be a fairly significant military and diplomatic player as evidenced by our actions in Ukraine the UK has lost any ability to wield major economic clout on the world stage. Now we are in a position of being screwed over by or ignored for free trade agreements with out “greatest allies” Australia and America while simply having to… Read more »
Brexit Zzz
What a load of nonsense. Stop living in the past. If anything in the last 50 years has evidenced the U.Ks “soft power” it is an international leadership on Ukrain, where we have gon others have followed. Think training, tanks, missiles and now aircraft.
The US was engaged with military and economic support of Ukraine long before the UK (Boris) got involved. The significant player in support of Ukraine is the US and its decision to get heavily involved had absolutely nothing to do with “UK leadership.” Germany would not have gotten involved without the US. The same goes for the rest of Europe. Start living in the real world. The UK is no longer a major European or world player.
Anyone who actually believes that the Edinburgh Military Tattoo is a major wielder of “soft power” needs a reality check.
And yet the USA’s first port of call for a reliable partner in their global adventures is who? Oh yes the UK, wonder why that is?
Your big problem is you still want to be the ‘big dog’ in the playground. The problem you have is that China is challenging that notion and you don’t like it.
That’s as maybe .. We are used to give credence to Americas forays into the world but hes correct it doesn’t percolate into our trade agreements with them…which is a particular bug bear of mine…Good enough to stand with em but not to trade with em.
After the USA was screwed over by Mexico in the NAFTA free trade agreement, I can’t see them agreeing to any more of them.
You know as well as the rest of us, that trade deals with the US are better at the state level given the unpredictable nature of a Dem govt. The Brexit bashers truly are something else!
You forgot the the Americans bigging up Ukraine independence 10 or more years ago, a lot of talk from them and eu but no backup. It was irresponsible. We should not overplay uk soft power, but we trained Ukraine forces for years and first in with lethal weapons.
It’s amazing that you even frequent this site for a bunch of nobodies such as the UK…..
Our soft power has been bruised by Brexit, Americans have been crippled by Trump, Sleepy Joe and the shit show that is US politics post Clinton. Considering how big it’s economy and military is people should really listen to it way more. it’s principal problem is a complete lack of moral authority. How can it enforce the law of the sea when it refuses to ratify it being a prime example, same goes for war crimes and the ICC and an entire raft of global legislation it chooses to ignore. It’s media is seen as corrupt and biased by all… Read more »
You obviously have no idea of what’s been going on internationally since before 2014, but stay delusional if you like. The old fogey declinist are alive and kicking.
Daniel, The UK was involved in supporting Ukraine with military training in 2015, soon after the Russian annexation of Crimea. UK was the first to offer both tanks and pilot training on western jets. US tanks have still not arrived in Ukraine and M1 training has only just started. For its size, UK has been a very significant player in delivering military and non-military aid. Many US Republicans want to slow down or even stop military aid. Germany was first inspired to send tanks by UK statement and secondly by US statement. Rubbish to say that UK is no longer… Read more »
Mate, if you look at Daniel’s previous posts he has a long standing chip on the shoulder and seems like a typical yeah hah American who thinks everyone else is under their shoe and probably gets the tissues out on a regular basis at how big and wonderful the US military are compared to the rest of the world, and reminds us all of it regularly.
Years back, we had another American here calling himself “PK Casmir” I think, with similar delusions of grandeur and who’s chip had burned clean through his shoulder.
Ignore.
Thanks mate. Good advice.
Yes, there have been a few over the years.
PK casmir, ah I remember that sad troll.
Ah, you’re back. Good.
DanielMorgon wrote:
“”The US was engaged with military and economic support of Ukraine long before the UK (Boris) got involved.””
The Uk supplied the Ukraine with 75 Saxon Battlefield taxis in 2014
The US supplied the Ukraine with 50 Humvees between 2015 and 2021
The British army began training the Ukrainian army as of Feb 2015. (Operation Orbital)
The Canadian army began in April 2015 (Operation Unifier)
The US army began in Nov 2015 (Fearless Guardian II)
Well said
👍🏻
DanielMorgan wrote: “” Germany would not have gotten involved without the US. The same goes for the rest of Europe. Start living in the real world. The UK is no longer a major European or world player..”” 1) Lithuania was the first European country to start handing over lethal weapons to the Ukraine and they started doing so in 2014 and which they continued to do as they replaced their soviet era weaponry with western ones 2) When the Uk handed over 2000 NLAW missiles it was deemed reckless by Germany and France. However that said, it precipitated a rash of… Read more »
If I may:-
Whether a democratic decision is ultimately shown to be right or wrong is not the point – what matters is that it is adhered to until any such time that the electorate decide to change their mind.
That option is rare and getting rarer, with even the last US president trying to overturn voter choice, ably abetted by GOP chancers, disgracefully.
On that basis, UK democratic adherence ought to have impressed many multinational ‘plebs’ for whom such a concept is inconceivable.
An example of Soft Power……..
Rgds
Of course the main problem is we did not have a democratically valid referendum. The reason why people resist the Brexit coup and want to bring those involved to justice.
Times like this we need a yawning face image.
‘Of course’ ‘Main problem’ ‘Democratically valid’ ‘Brexit coup’ ‘Justice’ ‘…london’ Not sure I understand what side of the Yes / No you supported – perhaps you could clarify? The gist of my post was clear, Sir, which you may learn to appreciate … one day. Who came out on top is way second to the principal behind a little x i.e. one is insignificant but millions are a true reflection of opinion….. like brain cells. BJ was fortunate to have JC as an opponent, nothing more. And we are fortunate not to be subject to an autocrat, to date –… Read more »
You seem to think the referendum was democratically valid and should be respected. That is where we disagree. I think it was extremely dirty and marred by violence from the Fascist thugs of leave and we should have a clean one. I think the correct analogy with the US would be Hilary Clinton beat Trump by more than three million votes but he got in thanks to antiquated and deliberately anti democratic aspects of the US constitution. He and his supporters then tried it again. I think both Britain and America lose ‘soft power’ by their current democratic failings and… Read more »
Dear Chris, you try my patience. What you ‘think’ is of no concern; all that matters is that everyone legally registered gets a bona-fide X *. Me – preferably by turning up in person at a booth, if not incapacitated (opinion only, of course). That way the private individual beliefs of millions of voters, among whom will be you & I presumably, distil into a national decision. That is all we’re * entitled to, but it has been treasured throughout democratic history for its rarity. More on that. As you’re a thinker, I should not need any expansion, though you… Read more »
Ok – Politics graduate here. I think you misconstrue what democracy is. The US Constitution is republican, not democratic (do not confuse those things with the parties….). In such, decisions are made by representatives of the population (the Demos) and not by the population themselves. This was deemed expedient by the Founding Fathers as they saw danger in Mob rule – and knew that democracy was unwieldy to be effective. Similarly, the UK “constitution” is Parliamentary, not democratic – for the same reasons. The Referendum was legal and valid because Parliament voted to devolve its decision making authority directly to… Read more »
Is attitudes and summarisation like this, that get the US into so much hot water. The US is a declining superpower and like the British cannot bring itself to admit it. Globally the balance of power is shifting rapidly and if we want to maintain the way we live we have to work as a united front. To say the UK did not assist Ukraine before 2014 is a little unfair. Russia has done huge damage to the democracies of the US and Europe over the last 30 years, our leaders refused to believe it and or turned a blind… Read more »
The UK is no longer a major European player…get a grip man..the UK has the second largest economy in Europe, has 66% of its large carriers, half its SSNs and controls half the continent’s strategic deterrent…if you think Britain is not still a major player in Europe your really are not very focused on Geopolitics in Europe. I will also say that the U.S. is more and more being considered around the world a very unreliable ally. It’s internal politics…especially that coming from elements of the Republican Party has been very damaging to it…if it’s not very very careful over… Read more »
I’m not sure you even understand what soft power is, training, tanks and missiles comes very much down on the hard power spectrum. Economics, culture, aid, diplomacy, finance are soft power.
We led on these things and others followed. That’s soft power because we used diplomacy and example to achieve it and didn’t force anyone with military threats. We used our soft power to increase Ukraine’s hard power.
I suspect that you need to contact your dictionary! Soft power involves persuasion and leadership, which is exactly what has enabled the weaponisation of Ukraine, dragging along reluctant allies. Suggest you do your research and forget your prejudice.
👍🏻
The reality maybe uk has to be inside an economic block. It is unfortunate that eu seeks to ever increase the federalisation of Europe and made no concession to uk at the time of brexit. Now uk is punished, the 2nd largest donor to the EU.
CANZUK was always a silly idea as geography and economics mean Canada and Australia are American clients first, our friends a distant at best second. NZ is neutral but very minor although great guys on and off the rugby pitch. Agreed Brexit is the biggest mistake the UK has made since mishandling the Curragh mutiny, far worst than appeasement. We will be rejoining soon enough but can never make up the lost hundreds of billions, or the lives lost or blighted by the fascist loonies, or the fact that they have made us a laughing stock across the world. There… Read more »
Let’s just ignore the concerning number of voices for increased federalisation within the EU, shall we?
Brexit and all around it is as much to do with the arrogance of the pro-EU people and their failure to acknowledge and recognise that the EU is not perfect and not universally adored.
Agreed.
Yes.
Quite so.
And there we go with a counter factual.
I know Czech, Slovak, Latvian, German, Belgium, Portuguese and Lithuanian politicians, military officers and business people – not one of them said the EU was perfect and all wanted to improve it and had hoped the UK would be in the vanguard. We fecked up, big time.
Didn’t take long for someone to prove my point. Should have added ‘condescending’ in there as well. Not exactly how to make friends and influence people. Anyway, actions speak louder than words. During negotiations before the referendum, the EU barely budged at all. If they really cared about the UK remaining, they’d have been more willing to at least talk about comprising, but keeping the other members from demanding things trumped everything for them. No. Most of those who are now saying how ‘sad’ it whatever it is that the UK had left are ones who did jack all to… Read more »
Hi chip. You posted a counter factual with no base in reality, just what you think. You got called out. And your second paragraph is another counter factual; it’s a club, with rules. Bluffer bluffing and idiots falling for his verbosity doesn’t equal facts. Why did the UK deserve anything special, despite the Brexiteers bullsh!thing they were entitled to it? You got the answer. Your third paragraph is laughable; the Cons took away my vote along with 300,000 other ex-pats. “Oh, you don’t live in the UK, you don’t pay taxes…: True, I just sold the English language, culture and… Read more »
Agree we diminished Europe by leaving. We allowed a power vacuum of a big power in Europe which France, gleefully, now wants to fill.
If you think those that advocated Brexit are “fascist loonies” you need to spend more time in the EU where there are actual fascists. Perhaps start with Hungary (Fidesz), then Austria (FPO), Italy (Brothers of Italy), Sweden (Sweden Democrats), etc, etc.
The U.K. doesn’t even have a single fascist in parliament let alone governing either outright or in coalition. Personally I’m glad the U.K. is out of that nest of fascists that is the EU.
Across Europe they tend to have democratic elections so if 5% vote Fascist that is what you see in parliament. We have the antiquated first past the post system left over from the early days of democratic experimentation. This tends to screw over small parties with widespread support so instead you get entryism into the mainstream parties. The hard left has twice highjacked the Labour party in my lifetime, both times with horrible consequences for the country. I would see the ERG as a right wing equivalent that has now taken control of the Tory’s, hopefully destroying them for a… Read more »
You’re being disingenuous talking about 5% voting fascist while ignoring the fact that fascists are either governing alone or in coalition with other parties. You don’t get to be the government with 5% of the vote. Yes the ERG are hard-right, but there’s a huge difference between that and fascist. Your claim the ERG has “taken control of the Tories” is patently ridiculous – the two most powerful posts, Prime Minister and Chancellor are held by Tory MPs who are NOT ERG members. You’ve totally lost touch with reality if you think the Brexit Referendum wasn’t legitimate. There has been… Read more »
The legality and democratic validity of the referendum has been a political debate in this country for the last seven years. If you have not noticed and/or refuse to admit that we have nothing to discuss.
The only significant difference between ERG/UKIP and our various Nazi splinter groups is the power they have from infiltrating the Tory’s and the fact that the Nazis tend to be more honest.
By any sane definition of the term what we got was a hard Brexit.
The democratic and legal validity is not in question other than within your Remoaner echo chambers. Pray tell which court decision has ruled the referendum to be undemocratic or invalid?… I’ll save you some Googling – NONE. We’re not discussing, you are spouting lies, I’m shooting them down with facts. And you wonder why you lost both the debate and consequently the referendum.. I see you’re still whinging about the ERG despite my proving they don’t control the Tory Party as you claimed… do tell which ‘Nazi’ policies you believe they advocate, Lebensraum? Aryanism? Your equating of the ERG with… Read more »
This Brexit mistake nonsense, is just that, nonsense. Move on. I voted against Brexit, as did most Londoners. However, any idiot can see that there are pros and cons to any treaty arrangement (marriage). It took us maybe a generation to be subsumed into the EU and logically it will take us a similar period to properly exit and achieve “harmony”. Get over it, there are benefits to be gained, just as there are disadvantages. Only an idiot would suggest otherwise.
Sense at last!
Tory cuts to wise & sensible soft power programs are the culprit, not Brexit. Our Hard power has been devestated too.
What utter nonsense. • “ terrible beating as of late primarily due to Brexit” Previously we were held back by the need to get collective agreement from the EU. Now we can do and say what we know is right and not have to try and convince Hungary’s Oban, etc, etc. • “ lost any ability to wield major economic clout on the world stage” We’re a G7 member FFS. • “simply having to accept any rules passed at Brussels for standards” Disingenuous rubbish. If you want to trade in ANY market you have to meet the standards of the… Read more »
Bravo. Facts.
Many cuts to stabilisation and conflict prevention programmes however – and a lot of this money now used to support refugees and asylum seekers in UK.
Time to move on mate, you’re seven years out of date. Try to keep up!
How on earth dues Brexit have any impact on what support we give to other countries? Just stop this bloody nonsense that if we were still in the EU everything we do would be better 🙄
Of course the mishandling of Brexit weakened our soft power, as it significantly reduced our influence in Europe. While we still bicker over the terms of exit, the EU countries are less likely to take our direction in security matters. Sunak has made significant progress here; let’s hope we can normalise relations quickly and get Macron to stop using us as his internal whipping boy. That damages France in the long run as much as it does us. It’s a testament to our soft power that despite both Biden and Macron openly disliking us, we have still been able to… Read more »
If not for Brexit the UK would be riding very high right now in soft power stakes in Europe, our support for Ukraine verses the Franco German mishandling of the situation as well as the general shifting in northern and Eastern Europe in to a less federalist position.
We also be able to better focus our diplomatic attention instead of desperately begging for a “free trade” deal for the US.
“ would be riding very high right now”
We are FFS 🤦🏻♂️ that’s why the rest of Europe follows us in sending anti-tank weapons, MBTs, cruise missiles etc. We’ve also taken the lead of the F16 plan even though we donate have any!
We lead, the rest of Europe slowly follows.
We has recession after recession during our time in the rapidly worsening control-mad Common Market/EEC/EU.
Soft power is a myth brokered by wokes . It’s a way of distracting and reducing our hard power. Look at the China, US, Japan. It’s the size of your stick that matters. I have no problem with giving aid to say with those who do not have enough to eat or a strong diplomatic presence, but hard power really matters, ask the Ukrainians. No doubt the Hunts of this world will love this report. A reason to reduce defence spending and virtual signalling the Chancellors humanitarian credentials by spending more on overseas aid. Hopefully Wallace gets his finger out… Read more »
Couldn’t agree more. It’s just a way of distracting from and seeking to justify cuts in hard power. Fir example, £630m of OPV’s costingctebs if millions in operating costs to trundle the flag around the world at a time when we’re cutting our world class MCM force and building “general purpose’ frigates with no ASW detection gear.
See above.
Still trying to cash in on the peace dividend(More cuts) while our main enemy is waging war on a neighbouring state & threatening nuclear retribution on any opposing them is beyond delusional.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev_u5gg87WA&pp=ygUUV2VzdCBjb25mZXJlbmNlIFVTTUM%3D
At 20:30
31 Assault ships
35 medium landing ships.
Arriving before the Chinese. That is soft power.
“Soft power” means funding overseas local corruption. Proved again and again. The petrodollar is dying, US influence waning by the day, Chinas increasing. The “establishment” needs to wake up, UK Inc is not a world player in any shape or form. Adaption to a new “world order” is needed, with a dose of reality. We need to trade, and trade with those who some see as “enemies”. If our politicians had any honesty, they would publicly admit this. The pursuit of a free trade deal with the US is a waste of time. There is nothing wrong with accepting that,… Read more »
Looking at it’s economic woes, China is skirting the edge of a catastrophic collapse in the not too distant future. Local authorities are carrying $30trillion in un-repayable debt, demographic analysis predicts a fall in population of nearly 500 million by the end of the Century and the property speculation bubble is bursting,/ has burst leaving some of the largest companies in the world in danger of collapse. There is a reason that Xi is toking the flames of nationalism over Taiwan now & it has a lot to do with the survival of the CCP and his rule. The abject… Read more »
That’s some prime CCP propaganda you’ve been slurping up there.
Jack, are you American? You use the word ‘Inc’ instead of ‘plc’.
Why do you think the UK is not a world player? What evidence do you have? By any measure we are a world player – the Henry Jackson Society studies this subject throughly and frequently considers the UK to be a global power, as is the US (but they operate at the much higher superpower level of course).
P5. G7. Nuclear Power. Top 12 manufacturer. Commonwealth. Historical, cultural, diplomatic links world wide. English language. Language of Science, Language of ATC. World financial centre. Best ranked Universities. Technology, AI, Electronic and Biomedical leader, like the Crick institute in Cambridge. Soft power ranked 2, from our sports to our music to our culture to our financial generosity. A history that the US can only look at and weep. Intelligence power, plugged into the widest, most advanced surveillance system ever seen, between UKUSA agreement, joined by CANAUSNZ. Armed forces: never mind their size, too many pluses to list, from the world’s… Read more »
Totally agree mate. These declinists never adduce evidence or references beyond saying that as we no longer have the Empire or we left the EU we must be in the last chance saloon. Total bo**ocks.
Declinist is a pejorative term. And its relative. Every dog has his day. Our was the 19th century, the 20th century was the US. The 21st century looks like China’s. We need to ‘westernise’ China; implant and convert them to our values.
I consider a declinist as someone who, with no evidence, considers that the UK is a has-been nation with no clout in Europe, let alone on the world stage and that Global Britain is just British Empire v2.0 pushed by fantasists. Not sure it is over-perjorative, but happy to find a more amenable term for a doubter or nay-sayer. Our days of Empire were in the 19th and early 20th Century – but we have a different and not unimportant role today – we are not down and out. Good luck with trying to ‘westernise’ China – I think UK… Read more »
Every time people of Chinese cultural background have had a chance to pick a social order they seem to have chosen a western style regime. In the 1920s China was westernising fast until that was crashed by recession and the Japanese invasion. Taiwan seems to have chosen a very westernised path. So has Singapore which I have visited twice. As someone on the right of the Lib Dems I would like to make us more like Singapore. When we talk about China we are discussing a former Marxist regime trying to give its people western wealth and some personal freedom… Read more »
China will westernise as much as it wants to, without the Central Committeee losing control.
We do not need to help them or push them to westernise further than they are.
Morning Graham, thanks for your personal defintion of ‘declinist’. The reason I dislike the term is that I first encountered it on the front page of the DT and realized pretty quickly it is a politically motivated invention which uses the power of alliteration to denigrate anyone who supports views contrary to those of the paper. It’s a kind of general purpose ad hominem attack which is intended to stifle debate. Sounds like socialist, communist, feminist, fascist…so must be bad people. Completely agree we are not down and out. We are ( like myself maybe ) entering the 3rd age… Read more »
Thanks Paul, for your post. Plenty of food for thought. I saw the Chinese methodology at work during my year in Sierra Leone. They can be ruthless, yet charming, and they know how to play the long game, something we in the West don’t know how to play. Japan needs to move away from its post-WW2 strait jacket and be more of a force for regional stability – their constitution can be changed to permit greater freedom of manouevre. Then they can play a part with AUKUS and possibly others (Singapore?, Philippines? Thailand?) to provide a balance to China. I… Read more »
😎🤙🏿
Well said mate 🇬🇧 👏
One of the recent “free trade” agreements with the US attempted to make us liable for anything we did as a soveriegn nation that impinged on any US corporation. That was a deeply offensive hostile attempt to put nations governments under the feet of big buisiness. Thankfully it failed due to enough of the public waking up to the threat. But the threat is still out there & free democracies need to be aware of the threat not only from our enemies, but from those who’d quite happily enslave nations the tyranny of big money interests.
As the saying goes, if you are not at the table you are on the menu 😉
Some world issues can indeed be helped by soft power and whilst we should not neglect it, this is a time for helping other countries stand up to the bullies which is if anything is far more important.
Softpower nonsense is always used as an excuse for not investing in real Military capabilities.
Canada is a flagrant abuser of this notion and as a result their word is meaningless in diplomatic circles.
Nothing beats real power.
I’ll buck the trend here. I see the value of soft power, which has inputs from countless areas. I support the OAB, but not always how it is spent and in hard times economically I’ve no issue with it reduced to fund things at home. Soft power ranges from how many allies you have to who speaks your language, to who comes to your universities, to who follows the Premier League, listens to British music, or the billions who watch royal funerals and coronations. Things like Trooping The Colour and the pageantry for which we are so well known play… Read more »
Well said Daniele 👍😉
I agree with you on all that except for…
You campaigned for Farage… Come on man, how on earth did you not see that man for the fraud he is?
Hmmmm. Depends on your point of view regards fraud.
Having spoken at length with him on 3 occasions one to one I have a different view of him and his passions to you. 👍
But hey ho, we all have our opinions. Like the oft rubbish I hear that he hates the Europeans! With a name like that and a German wife….🙄
I do agree with quite a lot of what he has to say (not that I can say that in real life; I got badly ostracised for even questioning that leaving the EU was bad at the time).
But I find him really obnoxious and disingenuous.
Arguably Farage persuaded a large number of people to think seriously about the failings of the EU and to contemplate the UK leaving.
What we need is someone to persuade us to think seriously about the failings of the UK. Russian oligarchs buying a seat in the upper house of parliament doesn’t work for me.
His speeches and personality are electric. He said what many thought but were silent.
The rest is history.
Posts of this intelligence are sadly too few on this forum.
Soft power works best if it is backed up by hard power. I have been reading about the British Pacific Fleet, 1944-5. They had HMS Unicorn. It looked like a small aircraft carrier, but was for aircraft repair & ferrying. It had fully equipped workshops for metal work & electrical repairs. I think the RN could do with a modern day version, based on the most recent HMS Ocean design. So around 20,000 tons. Cheap for its size. Able to ferry F-35B + helicopters & repair them. Fully equipped workshop, not just for aircraft, but also damaged steel panels on… Read more »
Sounds good to me 👍
Interesting to note all the carriers of various types operated by the BPF – quite a number!
Excellent idea, in an ideal world. Unfortunately, and for some time now, we live in an age where bean counters dictate what the armed Forces get, and when.
BPF had near 1,000 aircraft and 19 carriers, so two additional carriers for repair made sense. The numbers we have today aren’t large enough to warrant that. However, a class of 3 LHD based on Canberra class or Trieste, would provide great amphibious capability, as well as back up F35B carrier. Two could be amphibious focused and one could be a permanent aircraft training ship. Or all three could cover this capability. It could mean that in wartime, where amphibious operations aren’t being conducted, or two LHDs are available, one could operate in such a capacity, providing a reserve of… Read more »
Faster to fly these out instead of ferry them on a carrier. And what would we ferry them to? We don’t have a fleet there and and have given up the empire.
The peacetime role of disaster relief. Having a 20k carrier with fully equipped workshops can help repair damaged infrastructure such as water & electricity. It can also ferry bulldozers, cranes, JCBs & SAR helicopters. Probably the most useful thing we could spend the foreign aid budget on.
In a conflict, the ability to repair ships, aircraft & electrical equipment, in theatre, on the go, could be the difference between winning & losing. Plus top up any lost aircraft on QE/PoW.
I’ve no issue redirecting a portion of the aid budget for the CAPEX and OPEX on a disaster relief vessel.
But I can’t see the benefit of trying to be a floating repair shop when we’re establishing RN Support Facilities like Bahrain in addition to the ports of allies. These will be able to offer far better repair options.
As for repairing aircraft, we can already do that on the carriers, so a capability duplication.
Better something like a Bay, something designed for operation in littoral waters, and amphibious capabilities for where docksides are not available.
HMS Unicorn also supported the light carriers off Korea 1950-3. It meant the light fleet carriers could stay on station longer, without having to return to Hong Kong or Japan, all the time. Fixed bases are good, but they may not be where you need them to be, in a crisis. Unicorn also doubled as a troop transport in the Korean War.
And I’m sure it did a great job supporting the light carriers, but we don’t have them anymore, we have supercarriers now.
That still need to be supported.
Yes with a Tide class tanker and new FSS to replace Fort Victoria. Aircraft repairs are performed aboard the carriers themselves.
The RN hasn’t operated an “aircraft repair ship” for 70 years. The USN with the largest number of carriers worldwide doesn’t operate them either. In fact, I can’t find an example of any navy with carriers operating such vessels.
With only 2 carriers, if they needed to be on station during a prolonged operation, it could be tricky without support. That was the lesson of the BPF & Korea.
They have support from the Tide class for fuel, and Fort Victoria (and new FSS ships) for solid stores including food, munitions, spares. The only ‘trickieness’ is that there is only one Fort class ship until the new FSS are built.
The RN don’t believe they need a floating aircraft repair vessel, this is not the 1950’s and the Hawker Sea Fury and Fairey Firefly are long retired.
To quote Alistair MacDonald, Senior Policy Advisor, Soft Power, British Council
” People around the world are keen to engage with the UK, for trade and for cultural, educational and scientific exchange.
The UK is seen as a force for good in the world, a valued, trusted partner in the fight against global challenges like climate change. “
House of Commons committees do good work. I don’t have any issues with these recommendations bearing in mind that China is using cheap credit to buy influence at our expense, weakening our cultural influence. Notwithstanding a lot of bashing from some people in the UK our armed forces, diplomatic service, police force, education and legal systems, construction, broadcasting and humanitarian charities are widely respected. The relationships built by the personal presence of UK men and women on the ground in 3rd world countries and by services like the BBC foreign language channels ( RIP ?) are the foundation of relationships.… Read more »
Reading this echo chamber is depressing. World leading MCM capabilities – the same tech sold to other NATO countries. BREXSHIT isn’t the problem. Most squaddies looked askance when I read the Economist. It shows in the clap trap posted here. We were first in Ukraine… shame we didn’t stand by them in 2014. UK is a reliable partner. No, we’re a poodle who when working with the Americans, means we just bimble through. The power of the RN and Royal. USMC and USN view soft power as 31 amphibs supported by 35 medium phibs: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev_u5gg87WA&pp=ygUUV2VzdCBjb25mZXJlbmNlIFVTTUM%3D UK needs to wind its… Read more »
David what could we have done for UKR in 2014? We quickly supported them from 2015 with military training in-country etc.
In 2013, the winds of war were forming over Latvia – I was there. Given our ‘fantastic’ Braid occupying so many high level Defence Attache posts across the world at just a minor cost to the Defence budget, not forgetting pensions, the Heads Up could have gone up and more media attention focused on the situation – it was our DUTY to Ukraine. We stood by, looking on. Instead, we should have been on the ground as one of the signatory nations to the Defence of Ukraine. Once again, Brit pollies and BritMil stood by and shook our heads. Fact.… Read more »
Not sure that DA pensions have much to do with it.
Certainly under the Budapest Memorandum it was incumbent on the western signatories to intercede when Russia invaded and then annexed Ukraine in 2014. Britain as the junior partner to the US should have taken the US lead, but there was none. President GHW Bush (ie Bush senior) did nothing, so PM David Cameron also did nothing. Shameful.
You mean Obama surely? Yes he proved weak in Syria and Ukraine. Given US inaction could we have done more?
Sorry, yes. Obama was the Prez in 2014. Must have had a senior moment!
Have we ever taken the lead when America ‘went quiet’ on an international issue?
NATO going into Ukraine was a big ask back then.
Graham thank you, just wicked Budapest memorandum . Obviously unfit document but situation was equally rubbish. Yeltsin didn’t stay for long, Russia a basket case , Ukraine coming out of soviet system but possibly not fully democratic and independent of Russia. Everyone wanted the soviet nuke missiles out of Ukraine. We sent ids Ian Duncan smith def sec .
Somewhat peculiar that the West was happy for Russia to take over the 1,900 nuclear warheads held by Ukraine after 1991, rather than to insist they be destroyed in line with principles of NPT. Not sure that ‘everyone’ included me!
IDS was only Shadow DS (1999-2001).
Budapest memorandum was watered down by the Americans – very spineless – assurances and not guarantees of protection for Ukraine.
Cameron probably couldn’t have done anything if he wanted to. Remember he wanted to take action with Syria, but lost the vote in the Commons.
Since Blair’s lies over WMDs in Iraq, MPs are far more reluctant to back military intervention in case it’s a repeat.
Very true. Cameron would and could only ‘follow’ the US line – given that we could not go up against Russia alone.
Why did Obama ‘wimp out’?
Cameron could have intervened, but from a practical standpoint it would have required another ally such as France or Italy. Both the West and Russian forces have been careful to avoid direct conflict with each other. As for Obama, his stupidest mistake was to declare “red-lines” on chemical weapons use and then not act when Assad crossed them. He should never have said that if he wasn’t certain he’d have political support to take action: it was not an issue to bluff over. Not taking action made the West look weak, which was then further ‘confirmed’ by the shambolic withdrawal… Read more »
Sean, I totally agree with you – politicians especially the ‘leader of the free world’ should never bluff about response to WMD use. This weakness has probably inspired Putin to do what he does on more than one occasion.
It sounds like you believe that Britain should have armed forces sufficiently large to mount offensive operations if justified!
Britain seems to have been shy of mounting significant offensive operations overseas without the Americans ever since the Suez debacle (the Falklands war being the exception of course).
Recent American presidents either seem to be weak – • Clinton responding to Al Queda’s bombing American embassies in Africa with a one-off cruise missile strike • Obama threatening red lines in Syria and then doing nothing Or utterly gung-ho • Bush Jr’s mad, bad, and sad invasion of Iraq I believe the U.K. should have the military forces needed to counter threats to the U.K., ideally as forward operations abroad. I believe these count as defensive actions even when it’s a forward defence. However I believe in a realistic threat assessment, not just copying what we had at the… Read more »
Sean, on some things we agree! I very much agree with you on the above, but don’t see that anyone thinks we have or should have the forces we had in the Cold War, which ended over 30 years ago. Do you think that Threat assessments have not been done since the Berlin Wall came down in 1989? There have been so many defence reviews since then, starting with ‘Options for Change’ which reset (ie cut) our forces for the post-Cold War world following very thorough threat analysis. Further reviews conducted threat assessments but concluded that further cuts were required,… Read more »
I know there have been threat assessments and reviews done since 1991, but events even over just the large couple of years warrant a complete reappraisal. I’m hoping the forthcoming one is just that, and not simply the last-one tweaked again.
IR 2023 always was to be the 2021 IR refreshed, so sorry to disappoint. It came out this March:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/integrated-review-refresh-2023-responding-to-a-more-contested-and-volatile-world/integrated-review-refresh-2023-responding-to-a-more-contested-and-volatile-world
It will be followed by a Defence Command Paper sometime this month.
Bugger 😕
All my Ukrainian’s friends think we’re bloody brilliant for the support we’ve given. First to give military aid before the invasion, second only to the US in amount given, and lead by example by being the first to donate MBTs and cruise missiles. The Budapest Memorandum did not guarantee military intervention, it was no Article V. Ukraine knew this, which is why they joined the NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) in 2008. It was Yanukovych who shelved their membership plans in 2010 as he started his tilt towards Putin – presumably a pre-condition for assistance. As for 2014, a military… Read more »
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Re Echo chamber.
The sites articles are variable but usually good.
A wide range of people contribute to the discussions occasionally.
A small cliche of people make most of the noise.
It is just a matter of learning who to filter out.
The prejudice in threads relating to Scotland and Brexit is strong but it is all the same people.
I’ll give an example of foreign soft-power… all the ‘useful idiots’ resident in the U.K. that seem to delight in doing down* the U.K. at every opportunity. These are providing soft power to our opponents; Russia and China.
Feel free to self-identify.
* there’s a difference between perpetual talking-down the U.K. and valid criticism on specific issues.
It’s getting to be a crowded dance floor with “soft and hard power tango” these days. Asking someone to 🕺 with and hopefully they accept! 💃But 🇬🇧 got talent! Lol 😁
Our country has gone soft ,given over to making money by useless fxxxxxg bankers ,useless politicians all of them ,Britain’s defence is a chip not to be bargained with but tell that to useless people that are in government just now and the previous rubbish government, last chance saloon
Well Jim all I can say soft power is a woke allusion. Scotland is the proof. Westminster spends a lot more per head on Scotland than any where else. Not like northern England, Wales etc couldn’t do with extra investment. Yet around 40/45% of Scots would tell Westminster to eff off. A good number I suspect of the remainder do not support Independence because they are swayed by the considerable economic argument. And when did you last hear from the SNP, Labour, Conservative or Liberal Scottish parties offer a word of gratitude or thanks. Never. Soft power does not exist… Read more »
Sadly for the Remoaners, trade is back to pre vote levels. Ask the IFS. If there is a qualm to be had for soft and hard power, then ask your MP.
Soft power is multidimensional .In my view the reduction of what was near dominance over the air waves of the BBC World Service enabled our potential and existing enemy to take over this domain..