Hunt calls for boost to defence spending
Britain must project ‘hard power’ in face of new global threats, says Foreign Secretary
BRITAIN must “decisively increase” its defence spending to cope with future threats from all over the globe, Jeremy Hunt has said, as he warned of the danger of an “accidental” Us-iran war.
The Foreign Secretary made it clear that if he became prime minister he would pour billions more into “hard power” to restore the UK’S global influence after Brexit.
He said it was “not sustainable” for Britain to spend just 2 per cent of GDP on defence, and The Daily Telegraph understands that Mr Hunt favours matching the US model of allocating 4 per cent of GDP to the Armed Forces.
The last time Britain spent such a high proportion of its national income on defence was in 1993, but Mr Hunt said “the nature of warfare is changing”, adding: “Strength is the surest guarantee of peace.”
Mr Hunt’s comments in a speech at Mansion House in London will be seen as a clear appeal to the Tory base in the run-up to an expected leadership push.
The annual speech traditionally focuses on foreign policy but, in what amounted to his personal manifesto, Mr Hunt also covered Brexit, the economy, immigration, health and education in an attempt to steal a march on rivals in the race to succeed Theresa May.
Mr Hunt said Britain now faced “a more aggressive Russia and a more assertive China”, which meant the “assurance provided by unquestioned American dominance” no longer existed. He said that while the US spent almost 4 per cent of its GDP on defence, other Nato countries spent between 1 per cent and 2 per cent, so the next Strategic Defence and Security Review should ask whether “we should decisively increase the proportion of GDP we devote to defence”.
Mr Hunt said: “We simply do not know what the balance of power will be in 25 years’ time ... at the same time the nature of warfare is changing.
“The conflicts of tomorrow could well start with a cyber attack, then escalate into precision strikes by hypersonic missiles followed by swarms of unmanned aircraft.
“The new domains of space and cyber and the immense capabilities of artificial intelligence will transform the conduct of warfare ... we need to be leaders in these areas, too.”
Allies of Mr Hunt say he is concerned that if Nato countries keep expecting the US to subsidise them, America will lose patience and simply concentrate on its own interests instead.
On a visit to Brussels yesterday to discuss the Iranian nuclear threat with Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, and EU foreign ministers, Mr Hunt said President Donald Trump’s increasing impatience with Iran over the unravelling nuclear deal could have unintended consequences.
He said: “We are very worried about the risk of a conflict happening by accident with an escalation that is unintended.”
Tehran has threatened to increase its
‘How could we defend democracy globally if much of our population believes we are ignoring it at home?’
uranium enrichment if it not is offered better terms than it currently has under the 2015 nuclear deal, but Mr Trump, who pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear deal a year ago, has sent a task force to the Middle East to defend US forces in the region against possible Iranian attacks.
The US deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group after John Bolton, Mr Trump’s national security adviser, said Washington had “clear indications” Iran was preparing for possible attacks on US forces in the region.
Mr Pompeo said at the weekend that the US was not seeking a war with Iran, but if Tehran attacked American interests in the region “we are prepared to respond in an appropriate way”.
Mr Hunt said Britain needed to invest more in defence to ensure “when we say Britain stands for the defence of democratic values, when we promise never to leave our great ally, the United States, to perform this task alone, then we are as good as our word and in doing so we encourage other democracies who share our values to follow suit.”
Mr Hunt, like other prospective leadership candidates, is aware that increased defence spending is popular with traditional Tory voters, though he did not give clues as to which departments would have to cut spending. Turning his attention to Brexit, Mr Hunt said Parliament must “live up to a democratic promise” to respect the result of the referendum by “leaving the EU cleanly and properly”.
Mr Hunt, who voted remain, has since said he would vote leave in a new referendum, and laid out his Brexiteer credentials by saying: “How could we defend democracy on the international stage if a large part of our population believes we are ignoring it at home?” ♦ Aircraft shortages and a lack of trained instructors has added years to military pilot training, the Ministry of Defence has admitted. A freedom of information request revealed hundreds of fast jet and helicopter pilots have had to endure years of “holding” waiting for courses. The usual three to four years’ training has often been doubled.