Britain cannot shirk the fight against rogue states Con Coughlin
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/07/31/britain-cannot-shirk-fight-against-rogue-states/
Now that Boris Johnson has made wholesale changes to the ministerial team whose primary duty is the defence of the realm, it is vital that it results in a radical new approach in the way British foreign policy is conducted. Far too often under Theresa May’s premiership, the defining characteristics of Britain’s engagement with the outside world were prevarication and hesitancy.
About the only time Britain made a firm stand was in the aftermath of the Salisbury poisoning, when not even the risk-averse Mrs May could avoid putting in place robust measures to punish Russia for its involvement in the worst chemical weapons attack on European soil since World War Two.
That said, Mrs May’s dire threats to crack down on Russian activity in Britain have made little impact, to the extent that Russia’s intelligence agencies are now busily rebuilding the spy networks that were dismantled in the wake of the Salisbury attack.
So there is a pressing need for Mr Johnson’s new ministerial team to adopt a more assertive approach if Britain is to reclaim its rightful place at the heart of world affairs, as well as making sure we are better equipped to defend ourselves.
Mr Johnson made encouraging noises during the Conservative leadership contest that he took a serious interest in such issues. He wrote to Dr Julian Lewis, the chair of the Defence Select Committee, that “for too long we have asked the armed forces to do too much with too little resource”, and pledged “that we will exceed the minimum 2 per cent Nato spending target”. His decision to visit the Faslane nuclear base, home to the Trident nuclear deterrent, as one of his first acts as prime minister sent a clear signal of his personal support for the military.
The appointments to the key ministries responsible for national security – the Foreign Office, Ministry of Defence and Home Office – are further evidence of the Government’s robust approach.
Dominic Raab, Ben Wallace and Priti Patel all enjoy a reputation for plain-speaking, and are unlikely to shy away from difficult issues. And, given the many potential new threats looming on the horizon, Britain can no longer afford to take a back seat if its post-Brexit future is to be guaranteed.
The likes of Barry Gardiner, a leading light in Labour’s shadow cabinet, are talking utter nonsense when they blithely contend, as he was allowed to do in a recent interview with the BBC’s Today programme, that Britain’s security will be adversely affected by leaving the EU. Brussels has nothing whatsoever to do with defending Britain: Nato and the transatlantic alliance help to fulfil that function.
No, the real threats to our well-being come from rogue states like Russia and Iran.
For example, the expected collapse later this week of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) raises the very real prospect of the Western democracies being plunged into a new arms race with Moscow.
The treaty is under threat because Russia violated the agreement by developing a new generation of mobile medium-range missiles that are hard to detect and can hit European targets in a matter of minutes. The Trump administration says it will pull out of the agreement, reached between Washington and Moscow in 1987, unless the Russians agree to comply with the terms of the deal.
With Russia showing no sign of so doing, the collapse of the INF looks set to spark an arms race, one that could result in the complete collapse of the post-Cold War arms control framework.
Sir Adam Thomson, one of Britain’s leading arms control experts, believes the death of the INF deal could prove to be a watershed moment in relations between Russia and the West. “It reflects a dangerous loss of trust between Moscow and Washington. Neither side can afford a nuclear confrontation when the margin for error is so small.”
It is Russian missiles, not Brussels bureaucrats, that threaten our well-being, and to deal with this and other threats, Britain must work with close allies such as the US. To this end Mr Raab would be well-advised to join forces with the United States in confronting another rogue state, namely Iran, rather than continuing with Mrs May’s ineffectual opposition to Washington on the issue.
Another area where improvements can be made is at the National Security Council, where Mr Johnson has already reduced the number of participating ministers.
Since its creation in 2010, the NSC has been headed by a diplomat, the latest being Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill. But there is a strong argument in favour of having it run by a senior military figure with specialist knowledge of defence issues. The names of former Army General Sir Richard Barrons and former First Sea Lord Admiral Sir George Zambellas have been mentioned.
Having a seasoned defence and security expert working at the heart of the government machine would certainly enhance Mr Johnson’s ability to tackle the many challenges that lie ahead.
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