He’s led the SBS and Special Forces’ work is about small teams delivering strategic effect. It’s inherently political and led by people who see the bigger picture. In Parliament, he’s also been one of the few of the Labour Parliamentary intake who has stood out.
Britain First, Yes. Britain Isolated, No. It was the first global nation, even before the age of globalisation. Through language, trade and travel, to say nothing of military and other commitments, we remain a global nation now.
The Russian state is – probably – heading towards a reckoning. But it is a fool’s errant to predict when and where that might be, or what it may look like.
What began life as, at best, a noble objective and at worst, a piece of virtue signalling with little thought as to the eventual cost, has not only become a destroyer of jobs and industry, but it’s now also directly impacting on our foreign and defence policy
Soldiers are beginning to take a back seat and instead control the robots and the systems that do the fighting. In the Ukraine war, we are witnessing the rise of the machines – and machine learning. Ground warfare will not be the same.
Government waffle-eeze aside, the principle is a simple one. Coordinating our tools of power will deliver more power and more influence, drive strategic thinking to make the Foreign Office more effective and our undisputed intellectual driver of global engagement.
We currently live in a never-never land of promised defence spending that doesn’t then materialise. Our Government is talking the talk on defence and resilience. It is not walking the walk.
There’s a bigger picture here, beyond Trump hatred. The hard reality is that Britain, in the eyes of our Middle East allies, has appeared to be a fair-weather friend. Iran is the latest crisis to expose our Prime Minister’s inadequacies. I suspect it won’t be the last.
It goes without saying that the current crop of Labour ministers and the Prime Minister, have doubled down on almost every negative trend and trait.
Starmer has become trapped in a confused world of his own making. He’s accepted an interpretation of international law which aids dictators over democracies. He’s alienating our closest ally whilst trying to appease Labour’s electoral base as well as its MPs.
Putin’s message to Russians is if you oppose me, think about every door handle you touch, every letter you pick up, and every drink you accept. His message to outsiders: if this is how I treat my own, just think how I will treat you.
China is a threat. It is trying to subvert the international system. Our best chance to avoid both dependency and war is to stand up for ourselves now, minimise our dependency and strengthen our alliances.
To have the same influence in global affairs, we are going to have to think much more carefully about how we apply power, and we will need to acquire more hard power.
Let’s be clear, our current China policy will bring neither prosperity nor a promotion of our values, but only long-term impoverishment and shame. It is the policy of appeasers, not patriots.
Over-riding international law isn’t perfect, but a muscular approach to self-interest feels like a breath of fresh air. Sorry if that offends – and Trump has done more to defend the rights of Venezuelans than Maduro’s Marxists did.