DEFENCE Secretary Wes Streeting has warned that Britain faces “a greater risk of war than at any point in my lifetime” and Vladimir Putin is enemy number one.
He said the UK must invest in our Armed Forces now – otherwise we could lose a war in just five years time.
Speaking to The Sun on Sunday on the eve of the Labour Party conference, Britain’s new Defence Secretary said our enemies are waiting for us to show signs of weakness.
Mr Streeting, 43, said: “Without a shadow of a doubt, the biggest threat facing Britain is Russia and President Putin.
“We’ve got war in our continent. We’ve got a Russian President who has imperialist ambitions, who is constantly testing Britain’s defences, NATO defences, and testing the strength of our alliances.
“And so, the sobering reality is that we face a greater risk of war than we’ve done at any point in my lifetime.
“And against that backdrop, that is why we have decided to deliver the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War.
“Because while I can sit here confidently today telling you that I have what I need – and we have what we need – to keep this country safe, were we to stand still I wouldn’t be able to say the same thing with confidence in five years’ time.”
A failure to invest in the Armed Forces now would leave Britain so weak that Russia – or another rogue state – could launch a war against us, he warned.
The Defence Secretary said: “Strength builds deterrence, and deterrence makes it far less likely that we will end up in a place we don’t want to be – which is at war with Russia or indeed anyone else.”
Mr Streeting issued the stark warning amid an ongoing row over defence spending.
Earlier this year, John Healey quit as Defence Secretary with a blistering attack on then PM Keir Starmer’s failure to find the cash to keep Britain safe.
The astonishing bust-up contributed to Sir Keir’s downfall and the decision by Labour MPs to install Andy Burnham in No10.
Mr Healey is now the Chancellor in charge of finding the cash.
He is expected to announce an extra £5 billion for defence at next month’s Budget, but has delayed announcing a plan to spend 3.5 per cent of GDP (national income) on defence by 2035 until next year.
We currently spend just 2.6 per cent.
Military experts have warned that delay makes Britain weaker and our enemies stronger.
The Army has already been told to stop “non essential” training exercises to save cash.
But Mr Streeting insists he is confident Mr Healey will find the money needed.
“Do I have confidence in John Healey to give me and the Ministry of Defence what we need to keep our country safe? A hundred per cent”, he said.
“And he’s already said he’s going to give more to defence in this Budget. He’s already indicated that there’ll be more to come at next year’s Spending Review, and that’s a good place to be.”
But finding money for defence means tax rises or cuts to other departments.
When Sir Keir tried to trim just £6bn from the bloated benefits budget he was hit by a massive Labour rebellion and had to ditch the plan.
Britain’s welfare bill has ballooned to £330bn, with about half the cash going on non pensioner handouts.
Asked directly if a Labour government is actually willing to cut other budgets to fund defence, Mr Streeting said: “There are obvious choices and trade-offs to be faced across government, and that is that is the fiendish job that the Chancellor has.
“And we’ve got to back him up on that.”
He added: “On welfare, we’ve got to bring the welfare bill down. Andy Burnham’s been clear about that.”
I am speaking to Mr Streeting in a room in Horse Guards, the famous military headquarters in Whitehall overlooking Horse Guards Parade.
He is preparing to give his first party conference speech as Defence Secretary after a rollercoaster few months.
Wes began the year as Health Secretary and one of the most famous faces of Starmer’s frontbench.
But he sensationally quit his job in May – accusing Sir Keir of losing the confidence of the public and party and calling for a leadership contest.
His bombshell resignation helped send the Starmer regime into a death spiral.
Wes had declared he would run for leader, but in the end backed the coronation of Mr Burnham as PM.
So does he still harbour leadership ambitions?
Laughing, he said: “That ship has sailed hasn’t it?”
“I know my party well enough that the person who went first and called for change would not be the person that Labour members would choose to be their leader”, Mr Streeting said.
“I did what I did and said what I said because I genuinely believed it was the right thing to do.
“My number one priority was making sure that the Labour Party was able to govern well and win the next general election, and I felt that needed a change in leadership.”
Mr Streeting has not spoken to Sir Keir since his resignation but says he “wishes him well”.
And he is now full of praise for his one-time rival Mr Burnham, who he says is “giving people some hope back”.
The polls suggest he is right – there is a “Burnham Bounce” for Labour.
Although this is small and pollsters predict Labour would lose their majority and be forced to govern via ‘rainbow coalition’ with the Lib Dems, Greens and others.
Despite this, Westminster is awash with rumours that Team Burnham could call an early election in order to seek a mandate for more radical change.
But Mr Streeting laughs off talk of an early election.
“Number 10 has been really clear that there isn’t going to be an early election, so everyone needs to chill out”, he says, “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
For Mr Streeting, that work means making sure Britain is fighting fit and ready for war should the day come.
It is a heavy burden – and there are reminders of it all over the room we are in.
In one corner, a marble bust of Wellington stares down at us.
Perhaps Britain’s greatest military leader, Wellington defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo and brought an end to tyranny and war in Europe.
Next door has the actual desk where Neville Chamberlain sat with Adolf Hitler to negotiate the infamous 1938 Munich Agreement.
Chamberlain returned to Britain declaring to have secured “Peace in Our Time”.
The Nazis continued their march on Europe, World War Two broke out a year later, and Chamberlain went down in history as Britain’s most loathed PM.
They are two starkly contrasting reminders of the burden every Defence Secretary carries.
Will they help Britain stand up to tyrants? Or fail the test of history?
Mr Streeting says this Labour government will take the hard decisions needed to keep Britain safe.
Time will tell if that is true or not.
Chagos Deal off without Trump backing, Defence Ces says
THE CHAGOS deal will not go ahead until Donald Trump approves it, Wes Streeting says.
The Defence Secretary said the plan is not dead – and a deal is needed to protect the Diego Garcia military base.
But he said there is no way the deal can go ahead without the US President’s approval and so the UK is going back to the drawing boards.
He told The Sun on Sunday: “In order for the Chagos deal to get over the line, it needs the support of the President of the United States of America, and I think we ought to have been clearer about that sooner.
“President Trump, I think, has been crystal clear, and therefore we have to rework the deal.”
The UK’s original plan was to hand the islands over to Mauritius and lease the military base back at a cost o[f £100 million a year.
But Mr Trump has branded the deal “terrible” and the Tories and Reform UK also oppose it.
Mr Streeting insisted some kind of deal does still need to be done to protect the long term future of the Diego Garcia base – warning the legal risk is too big to ignore.
He said: “Five prime ministers now – Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer, and Andy Burnham – five very different characters, very different politics-have all looked at the risk and judged that a diplomatic track is far better than taking that risk.”
BRITAIN is armed and ready to defend the Falkland Islands from Argentina by force if necessary, the Defence Secretary has warned.
Wes Streeting derided President Javier Milei for claiming the islands are Argentina’s – accusing him of peddling the “same old bogus propaganda”.
He told The Sun on Sunday: “This isn’t 1982. The Argentinians lack the ability to take the Falkland Islands. We have the ability to defend the Falkland Islands.
“What we’ve seen from the president of Argentina is the same thing we hear from the Argies year in year out: whinging about the Falklands, saying it’s theirs.”
He added: “This issue was settled in 1982, and it remains the settled will of the Falkland Islanders, the overwhelming majority of whom you know choose to be British, and we we back we back the Falklands.”
Asked directly if Britain would be able to militarily protect the Falklands if Argentina sent warships in, he said: “Yes.”
But dismissing talk of war, Mr Streeting added: “The Argentinians don’t have the capability to take the
. Britain does have the capability to defend them.”
The Falkland Islands are a British territory and voted to remain so in 2013 by a staggering 99.8 per cent.
But Argentina has repeatedly tried to claim the Falklands are theirs.
In 1982, Argentina invaded the islands. Britain defeated Argentina after a 74-day war.