Patrick Mercer was a former Regular soldier and member of parliament for Newark. He is widely travelled in Ukraine and Russia and has written several books on the Crimean War.
Any government’s first and sacred duty is the defence of the realm and its people: we have been betrayed.
At the same time as escalating tensions with Russia, the Labour government is choosing to make cuts to our combat power whilst excusing themselves with yet another “review”. It’s irrational to cut our Armed Forces when the situation is getting tenser by the day.
I was in Sebastopol, Crimea, in January 2014 when President Putin’s men overwhelmed the Ukrainian garrison and it was clear to me that a major conflict would breakout soon. In fact, it took another eight years, but with the exception of a prescient few, our political and military leaders seemed surprised when Russia crossed the border towards Kiev in January 2022.
True, there had been some preparations in the shape of training teams in Ukraine and the deployment of a tiny, under-gunned force to Estonia, but when the deluge came, we were hopelessly unprepared.
As the war developed Boris Johnson bellowed jingoistically whilst, towards the end of Tory rule, the Chief of the General Staff told the Army to prepare for a war in Europe. Then came the real perfidy: ongoing defence cuts weren’t reversed, they were increased with a further 10,000 combat troops being scrapped!
Starkly, this happened as NATO countries like Poland began to expand her forces threefold, doubled her defence spending and fully mobilised her population and industry.
Worse was to follow under Labour.
Earlier this month John Healey, the Defence Secretary, held his hands high and said that Britain’s forces are not ‘ready to fight.’ Then, as if to guarantee that statement, a few days ago further, swingeing defence cuts were announced right in the middle of a major escalation in Ukraine.
The developing threats from China and Iran, the situation in the Middle East – which has included lethal, offensive action by the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force in defence of Israel – has caused deep fissures in our defence policy. But the fight that is absorbing Britain’s thought, money and materiel most immediately is Ukraine. Then came a major turning point in the war: Russia firing a missile that could have been nuclear tipped.
After US ATACMS and UK Storm Shadow missiles struck in Kursk and Bryansk areas, Russia retaliated with an Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) assault on Dnipro. Although this weapon was only a ‘blank’ designed more for political than military posturing, it demonstrated some of Ukraine and NATO countries’ vulnerabilities: we have no ‘Iron Domes’.
Meanwhile, the recent papers have been littered with shallow comments and sneers at Russian skill-at-arms. For example, we read that ‘Putin’s nuclear bang is more of a whimper’ whilst suggesting that Russia’s army consists of ‘…. released convicts and ancient howitzers’. If only we were just as aggressively building up our country’s defences.
Certainly, the Kremlin’s made mistakes, not least of which was its failure to take Kiev, but whilst that was going on the West seemed blind to the snatch of the ‘land bridge’ along the Sea of Azov which linked Russia proper with Crimea. We chose to ignore this feat of arms until its strategic importance made it the focus of Ukraine’s counter attack in the summer of 2023 – and there’s no need to describe the events that followed.
Then there is the closely kept secret of the casualties that Russia has inflicted of Ukraine. We don’t know the number, but we read in papers such as the Kiev Independent that ‘everyone knows someone who has been killed’. Imprecise stuff, but note the average age of a Ukrainian infantryman – which is 43. Similarly, too many pundits talk about a ‘stalemate’ in the fighting whilst the truth is that Russia’s grinding forward on every front.
All this, of course, is why Ukraine has been permitted to use long range missiles to fire at Old Russia. And that’s why Russia responded not with ‘ancient howitzers’ but a cutting-edge ballistic missile that has never been deployed before. No, a thousand days’ warfare have given Russia the largest and most battle-hardened forces in the world. They must be taken seriously.
Yet, alone in NATO, Britain is cutting her combat power and readiness for war. This must stop. There can be no dithering in turning the Defence Secretary’s words on their head, no lengthy defence reviews which serve only as a cloak for inaction and a sinecure for aging admirals and air marshals. Russia has quickly overhauled her industry and all her forces whilst garnering lessons from her battlefield failures. We must learn from her and learn quickly.
Now, there’s a volume to be written on Britain’s defence inadequacy listing such anomalies as the fact that we can deploy a whole regiment of fully equipped and mounted ceremonial cavalrymen, yet we have no heavy artillery; that we have more admirals than warships: the list is endless.
There’s another volume on the remedy for our neglect. It should concentrate on economic and psychological warfare, the expansion of our defence budget, cyber, space, AI, drone and unmanned weapons and recruiting. Above all, though, we must harden our attitudes, repudiating institutional softness and recognising that war is tough and merciless – just as much for politicians and civilians as for warriors.
Now we must copy the far sighted, doughty heroes of the 1930’s who saw the impending menace of Nazism, prepared our industry and economy, rebuilt our army, navy, air force and civil defence, and reintroduced conscription before the fighting started. Only foresight and courage allowed us finally to triumph.
Patrick Mercer was a former Regular soldier and member of parliament for Newark. He is widely travelled in Ukraine and Russia and has written several books on the Crimean War.
Any government’s first and sacred duty is the defence of the realm and its people: we have been betrayed.
At the same time as escalating tensions with Russia, the Labour government is choosing to make cuts to our combat power whilst excusing themselves with yet another “review”. It’s irrational to cut our Armed Forces when the situation is getting tenser by the day.
I was in Sebastopol, Crimea, in January 2014 when President Putin’s men overwhelmed the Ukrainian garrison and it was clear to me that a major conflict would breakout soon. In fact, it took another eight years, but with the exception of a prescient few, our political and military leaders seemed surprised when Russia crossed the border towards Kiev in January 2022.
True, there had been some preparations in the shape of training teams in Ukraine and the deployment of a tiny, under-gunned force to Estonia, but when the deluge came, we were hopelessly unprepared.
As the war developed Boris Johnson bellowed jingoistically whilst, towards the end of Tory rule, the Chief of the General Staff told the Army to prepare for a war in Europe. Then came the real perfidy: ongoing defence cuts weren’t reversed, they were increased with a further 10,000 combat troops being scrapped!
Starkly, this happened as NATO countries like Poland began to expand her forces threefold, doubled her defence spending and fully mobilised her population and industry.
Worse was to follow under Labour.
Earlier this month John Healey, the Defence Secretary, held his hands high and said that Britain’s forces are not ‘ready to fight.’ Then, as if to guarantee that statement, a few days ago further, swingeing defence cuts were announced right in the middle of a major escalation in Ukraine.
The developing threats from China and Iran, the situation in the Middle East – which has included lethal, offensive action by the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force in defence of Israel – has caused deep fissures in our defence policy. But the fight that is absorbing Britain’s thought, money and materiel most immediately is Ukraine. Then came a major turning point in the war: Russia firing a missile that could have been nuclear tipped.
After US ATACMS and UK Storm Shadow missiles struck in Kursk and Bryansk areas, Russia retaliated with an Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) assault on Dnipro. Although this weapon was only a ‘blank’ designed more for political than military posturing, it demonstrated some of Ukraine and NATO countries’ vulnerabilities: we have no ‘Iron Domes’.
Meanwhile, the recent papers have been littered with shallow comments and sneers at Russian skill-at-arms. For example, we read that ‘Putin’s nuclear bang is more of a whimper’ whilst suggesting that Russia’s army consists of ‘…. released convicts and ancient howitzers’. If only we were just as aggressively building up our country’s defences.
Certainly, the Kremlin’s made mistakes, not least of which was its failure to take Kiev, but whilst that was going on the West seemed blind to the snatch of the ‘land bridge’ along the Sea of Azov which linked Russia proper with Crimea. We chose to ignore this feat of arms until its strategic importance made it the focus of Ukraine’s counter attack in the summer of 2023 – and there’s no need to describe the events that followed.
Then there is the closely kept secret of the casualties that Russia has inflicted of Ukraine. We don’t know the number, but we read in papers such as the Kiev Independent that ‘everyone knows someone who has been killed’. Imprecise stuff, but note the average age of a Ukrainian infantryman – which is 43. Similarly, too many pundits talk about a ‘stalemate’ in the fighting whilst the truth is that Russia’s grinding forward on every front.
All this, of course, is why Ukraine has been permitted to use long range missiles to fire at Old Russia. And that’s why Russia responded not with ‘ancient howitzers’ but a cutting-edge ballistic missile that has never been deployed before. No, a thousand days’ warfare have given Russia the largest and most battle-hardened forces in the world. They must be taken seriously.
Yet, alone in NATO, Britain is cutting her combat power and readiness for war. This must stop. There can be no dithering in turning the Defence Secretary’s words on their head, no lengthy defence reviews which serve only as a cloak for inaction and a sinecure for aging admirals and air marshals. Russia has quickly overhauled her industry and all her forces whilst garnering lessons from her battlefield failures. We must learn from her and learn quickly.
Now, there’s a volume to be written on Britain’s defence inadequacy listing such anomalies as the fact that we can deploy a whole regiment of fully equipped and mounted ceremonial cavalrymen, yet we have no heavy artillery; that we have more admirals than warships: the list is endless.
There’s another volume on the remedy for our neglect. It should concentrate on economic and psychological warfare, the expansion of our defence budget, cyber, space, AI, drone and unmanned weapons and recruiting. Above all, though, we must harden our attitudes, repudiating institutional softness and recognising that war is tough and merciless – just as much for politicians and civilians as for warriors.
Now we must copy the far sighted, doughty heroes of the 1930’s who saw the impending menace of Nazism, prepared our industry and economy, rebuilt our army, navy, air force and civil defence, and reintroduced conscription before the fighting started. Only foresight and courage allowed us finally to triumph.