Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the British armed forces as depleted.
The new Labor government has therefore today appointed former British defense secretary and former NATO secretary-general George Robertson to lead their review. It is to issue a report on the state of the British armed forces in the first half of 2025, Reuters reported.
Robertson was defense secretary in Tony Blair’s government in the late 1990s and headed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from 1999 to 2003. Today, he said the armed forces must be combat-ready given the level of threats. Specifically, he warned against the “deadly quartet”, i.e. China, Iran, North Korea and Russia.
“We are faced with a deadly quartet of countries that are stepping up cooperation and we in this country and the NATO alliance that had such a successful meeting last week must be able to deal with that particular quartet as well as other issues,” Robertson told British media. Last week, a NATO summit was held in Washington, where members promised, among other things, continued aid to Russia-attacked Ukraine and accused China of providing military equipment to Russia.
At the summit, Prime Minister Starmer reiterated his commitment to increase defense spending to 2.5 percent of UK GDP, although he did not specify when this would occur. Today, Starmer stated that Britain’s armed forces are depleted and that he wants to increase defense spending responsibly to ensure the military’s long-term resilience.
Fiona Hill, a former adviser to US President Donald Trump, and retired British general Richard Barrons will also take part in the review of the state of the British armed forces.
Source: zpravy.tiscali.cz
