If the Prime Minister thinks Britain can fight wars on multiple fronts he really is as deluded as we all think, writes Giles Sheldrick.
Sir Keir has shown he is out of his depth when speaking about the UK’s military capabilities says Giles Sheldrick (Image: PA)
Sir Keir Starmer’s approach to defence should terrify us all. Britain’s slump down the league table of militarily able countries is hastening under Labour.
And anyone who thinks we’re now capable of fighting a war, never mind embarking on conscription to cobble together a willing and able force, has another think coming. Rather like the Army, Navy, and RAF, the UK under this government has become a shadow of what it once was.
If we cast our minds back only six weeks ago Rachel Reeves congratulated herself on her Budget. It was one that saw the two-child benefit cap axed in a move that increased handouts to 560,000 families by an average of £5,310. And spending on welfare is set to rise from £333 billion a year to £389.4 billion in 2029/30.
Now the dust is settling it is clear it was a benefits bonanza with the work shy and feckless – Labour’s base – firmly in mind.
But with the world tipped on its head and threats – both malevolently covert and overt – becoming ever greater Britain’s lackadaisical approach to defence is coming home to roost.
The number of Armed Forces personnel has decreased by one fifth, from around 186,000 in 2012.
Labour would rather lavish cash on the lazy than fund then money to bolster troop numbers. And to think that some still seriously believe the call of duty would be answered if it came.
And that is why the prime minister’s latest pathetic pronouncement on defence isn’t worth the paper it is written on.
He now says he is considering sending British troops to Greenland in response to US President Donald Trump ramping up his rhetoric over snatching back Danish territory.
Just days ago he committed to sending UK troops into Ukraine as part of the so-called Coalition of the Willing headed by his pal, pound shop Napoleon Emmanuel Macron.
PM Sir Keir Starmer talks to UK troops (Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Successive Budgets have told us that numbers are not Labour’s forte.
So perhaps the PM needs reminding just how sparse our Armed Forces are at a time Britain faces threats from all points of the compass.
The brutal reality is we are simply not prepared to mount, or to respond, to a war. Let alone two. Or three.
The numbers serving have been whittled down to historically low numbers not seen since the mid-19th century – around two-thirds less than the standing troop numbers before the First or Second World Wars.
At the time of the Falklands War in 1982 numbers were closer to 350,000.
It will hurt many to accept but the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force are shadows of the fighting forces they once were.
Figures show our threadbare forces – including army regulars and reservists – now total a paltry 180,000 with for years the number of people joining the UK regular forces lower than the number leaving.
Successive military top brass warned of the danger and now the UK faces a £28 billion shortfall in defence funding.
In 2024 General Sir Patrick Sanders, the former Chief of the General Staff, said Britain must be prepared to mobilise tens of thousands should we find ourselves at war with rogue states.
Lo and behold China continues its campaign of malevolent infiltration while Russia sabre rattles off our coastline and on the edge of our airspace.
While Starmer presents to be a political colossus when the reality is he is a political pygmy blind to the danger and ignorant of the facts.
The reality is our severely depleted Armed Forces would barely be able to defend the country, let alone fight a war on multiple fronts.
The truth is Britain’s military was once the envy of the world. It is now barely able to cobble one together, let alone properly equip it.
