Labour is all at sea on defence: Defence Secretary's extraordinary blunder proves that, writes James Hanson |
There is a long history of politicians coming unstuck during interviews with my LBC colleague Nick Ferrari, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard a car-crash quite like this.
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The Defence Secretary John Healey’s performance this morning - in which he was unable to confirm the number of active UK warships - was so shambolic it raises serious questions about this government’s competence. If we really are on the brink of World War 3, then god help us.
Asked by Nick how many frigates we have, John Healey paused and spluttered before hesitantly offering the answer “17 frigates and destroyers” - which isn’t even close. LBC has contacted the Ministry of Defence for the exact figure, but experts say the UK has “two type 45 destroyers available and probably three type 23 frigates”. That means our Defence Secretary is operating under the illusion we have more than three times as many warships available as we actually do.
It didn’t get much better from there. Next month, Britain was due to play a leading role in Standing NATO Maritime Group One - a rapid reaction force that operates in the North Atlantic, Baltic and High North. However, because of our shortage of operational warships, the Defence Secretary admitted Britain has been forced to ‘borrow’ a German frigate because HMS Dragon has been deployed to the Middle East. In other words, the Royal Navy, once the envy of the world, currently has just one available warship.
There are two key takeaways here. Firstly, when will ministers learn to be across the basics before an interview with Nick Ferrari? He is the master of his craft because he cuts through the doublespeak so beloved of politicians and asks the questions that strike at the heart of any issue: who; what; why; where; how much; and how many. If a minister of the crown cannot answer these questions, serious concerns must be raised about their fitness for office. And to think John Healey is normally regarded as one of this government’s most competent ministers!
Secondly, this car crash speaks to a wider truth: successive governments have played fast and loose with our national security. Defence of the realm is meant to be the first priority of any government, and yet, despite the increasingly perilous state of the world, our military has seldom been so threadbare. Our army is the smallest it has been since the Napoleonic era, with only around 72,500 regular soldiers. That means you could fit our entire ground forces inside Old Trafford football stadium.
There are times when not a single Royal Navy warship is deployed between Gibraltar and Singapore. There are also occasions when our two aircraft carriers are both inactive because of crew shortages, and we often struggle to maintain our six astute-class submarines, meaning sometimes only one is fully operational. By comparison, during the Falklands War in 1982, we deployed over 120 ships. If Argentina were to invade the islands again tomorrow, could we retake them? Of course not.
What makes the situation all the more alarming is that the threats we now face are far greater than a rogue military junta in Argentina. With Russia waging war in Europe, the Middle East more volatile than ever, and the US appearing increasingly uncommitted to NATO, our national security hasn’t been this at risk since at least the end of the Cold War, and quite possibly since the end of World War 2.
The government has committed to increasing defence spending, but we need to go much further and faster. It is frankly absurd that our total welfare bill is more than five times our annual defence spending. There will not be a welfare state if we cannot defend our shores. It is time to get serious about our national security. Perhaps after the Defence Secretary’s car-crash performance on LBC this morning, the penny will finally drop in Whitehall.
Listen to James Hanson on LBC on weekends between 4 and 7am.
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