Article published in The Daily Telegraph, 27 January 2025. © Richard Kemp
Sir Keir Starmer’s promise to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP without specifying any timeframe was clearly an attempt to neutralise Rishi Sunak’s pledge of an increase by 2030. It was naked electoral politics rather than any genuine desire to ramp-up our defences. Even if there is any increase at all, the prospects of matching the Conservatives’ undertaking are extremely low. That would require building towards an additional annual spend of £87 billion during the run-up to the 2029 election. With the current prospects for economic growth, the cash would have to be raised by higher taxation, increased borrowing or by transfer from other budgets such as the NHS, welfare, climate change or overseas aid.
That is not in Labour’s creed. The party simply does not care about defending the realm. The nuclear issue is telling. Starmer’s apparent support for Britain’s deterrent is undermined by divisions in the cabinet. One quarter of his cabinet ministers voted to scrap Trident on ideological grounds in 2016. They include his deputy Angela Rayner and Foreign Secretary David Lammy, either of whom might have to make a nuclear call if he becomes incapacitated.
Look also at Labour’s consistent opposition even to the feeble Tory efforts to stop illegal immigration. Then on taking office, Starmer immediately cancelled Sunak’s deal with Rwanda. That was far from adequate, but at least intended to deter, an effect proven vital for halting illegal immigration by Australia and also now under serious consideration by other European countries. Starmer’s solution – ‘smash the gangs’ – is a punchy slogan but slogans don’t secure borders.
Then there is Labour’s eye-watering plan to pay huge sums to Mauritius to take over the Chagos Islands, home to the important US-UK airbase and harbour at Diego Garcia. With Trump about to walk over the threshold of the White House, Starmer managed to combine political ineptitude with strategic illiteracy. It is hard to think of any unforced geopolitical move made in recent years by any UK government to equal that blunder, undermining Western security while handing the advantage to a rampant China. As well as his strategic judgement it also brings into question Starmer’s much-vaunted capabilities as a lawyer. Claiming that Britain was legally obliged to divest itself of the Chagos is sheer nonsense. The relevant judgement by the International Court of Justice was advisory only, and illustrative of the court’s anti-Western leanings so admired by the Left. Labour’s plan amounted to the triumph of virtue-signalling over national security.
Nor does this government seem to understand the implications on our security of overseas conflicts. How else can we explain Labour’s decision to impose a partial arms embargo on Israel at the height of a seven-front war against international jihadists? Certainly it was not, as implied, due to genuine concerns over Israeli breaches of the laws of war. The British government knows only too well the falsehood of such allegations by Israel’s enemies. This action, as well as the frequent casual and unjust criticisms of Israel’s military conduct, serve only to encourage its enemies, and lead to an increase rather than a reduction in violence. Beyond even that we should know by now that any success for jihadists ramps up the threat to our own country.
On top of that, Starmer abrogated the Conservative government’s opposition to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister. The objections were not even based on the substance of the allegations but on the jurisdiction of the court, and surely a former Director of Public Prosecutions should understand the politically-driven overreach of the ICC. Why can’t Starmer also see that such a precedent is likely to be used against our country, potentially undermining our own defences? Or maybe he just doesn’t care.
Our armed forces, and those of Nato as a whole, are in desperate need of the funding increases being pushed by President Trump. To stand a chance of overcoming Labour’s ideological opposition to defence, his current charm offensive on Starmer may have to give way to tough economic threats. It is embarrassing that our national defences in an increasingly dangerous world should have to depend on cajoling from across the Atlantic.
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