Keir Starmer can’t blame the cabinet secretary for his own failures
There have been 14 cabinet secretaries since the post was established in 1916. The first, Lieutenant Colonel Sir Maurice Hankey,…
Nato is far too complacent about Russian drones
Something is afoot in Nato’s airspace – but the alliance’s complacent response to the various incursions is rather troubling. In…
A judge has finally seen sense over the SAS’s ambush of three IRA men
It didn’t take long for a judge to deliver his withering verdict on a judicial review application into the use…
Will Europe put its money where its mouth is for Ukraine?
Shortly after Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the West prohibited transactions with the Bank of Russia…
Will Britain ever join the EU’s defence loan scheme?
Nick Thomas-Symonds holds the venerable position of His Majesty’s Paymaster General, which, ironically as we shall see, was once in…
Healey’s Palantir deal is a major boost for Britain’s army
President Donald Trump’s unprecedented (depending on your benchmark) state visit to the United Kingdom is underway and the deals are…
If Tony Radakin couldn’t reform the MoD, who can?
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, having handed over his responsibilities last week after four years as chief of the Defence Staff…
Norway’s warship order is a boost for Britain’s defence industry
There was some good news for the government as politicians return to Westminster and Whitehall after the summer break: the…
Why a peacekeeping buffer zone in Ukraine won’t work
The 24 hours within which Donald Trump promised to end the war in Ukraine have turned into more than six…
Trump’s military purge is a disaster waiting to happen
The Duke of Wellington, assessing newly arrived British soldiers during the Peninsular War, is supposed to have said, ‘I don’t…
Are British troops prepared to defend Ukraine?
The events of the last few days – the Trump/Putin summit in Anchorage, the visit of European leaders to the…
Starmer’s coalition of the willing has been saved from itself
It is commonplace to accuse politicians of being out of touch. There is often some truth in the charge, and…
Why is Spain trying to pick a fight with Trump on defence?
When I joined the House of Commons Clerk’s Department 20 years ago, there was a helpful list of formerly common…
How will the army’s new Gurkhas fight without any guns?
The British Army’s newest formation, the King’s Gurkha Artillery (KGA), has unveiled the cap badge it will wear. This is…
Is David Williams the MoD’s fall guy?
Yesterday the Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed that its permanent secretary, David Williams, will be stepping down in a matter…
The problem of striking a defence deal with the EU
The UK-EU summit in London in May, at which a new relationship between the parties was agreed, seems a long…
Germany has become a useful ally for Britain
Yesterday the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited London for the first time since he took office in May. He and…
Are we sure the Afghan data debacle won’t happen again?
‘Afghanistan’ was the heading of Defence Secretary John Healey’s statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday – a word…
The Ministry of Defence has dropped the ball on fighter jets
If Defence Secretary John Healey didn’t have an anxious and unsettled weekend, he should have done. The Ministry of Defence…
Britain must wake up to the threat of Iran
The Islamic Republic of Iran is a ‘wide-ranging, persistent and unpredictable’ threat to the United Kingdom. That was the sobering…
Grey zone warfare is here. Britain must catch up
The ‘grey zone’ is the kind of ominous jargon beloved of the military, but for once it is well named:…
Europe must prepare to support Ukraine without America
It is unquestionably the case that people who should have known better were blinded by the Capri-Sun King’s glare when…
Why does Starmer want to grow Britain’s nuclear arsenal?
The government published its National Security Strategy 2025 earlier this week, a strange pushmi-pullyu document building on some policy reviews…
Starmer’s national security strategy fools no one
Sometimes it feels as if the government’s approach to defence and security could be summed up by the venerable punchline…
Why shouldn’t Nato become a subscription service?
Today is the first day of Nato’s annual summit. Some have billed it as potentially the most important meeting in…
