JOE BIDEN’S

arrival in the White House could put defence stocks – from Rolls-Royce to BAE Systems and Babcock – in the spotlight.

The Government has announced £16.5 billion in extra defence spending, but industry watchers say a slew of projects are on hold until the long-delayed Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy is published, potentially in March. But Defence Select Committee chairman Tobias Ellwood says he’s already been talking to the Democrats’ foreign policy team.

‘They want us to step up. China and other foreign threats have taken advantage of our lack of collective resolve to increase their global military influence,’ the Tory MP tells me breathlessly, fresh from helping with the Covid jabs roll-out in his Bournemouth constituency. ‘Biden has the backbone to say we can’t let this continue. We don’t have anyone in No 10 who understands the longterm strategic threat China poses.’