Mr Wallace received public support from Secretary of State Liz Truss, who backed calls for more defense spending during a parliamentary committee. Ms Truss said: “I agree with the Secretary of Defense’s concerns. We have a real issue with the availability of defense equipment, given the extremely high security threat in Europe and we need to increase our industrial capacity. “I have said before that the free world did not spend enough on defense after the Cold War and now we are paying the price.” General Sir Patrick Sanders, the professional commander of the British army, said the cuts were “distorted” and that the United Kingdom must be “undoubtedly prepared to fight” if Russia invades NATO territory. He said: “It would be perverted if CGS [Chief of the General Staff] “They supported the reduction of the size of the Army as a land war raged in Europe and Putin’s territorial ambitions extended to the rest of the decade beyond Ukraine.” Jeremy Hunt, who is widely expected to run against Johnson in any Tory leadership race, said spending should reach 4% of GDP. Mr Johnson denied that the Conservatives’ 2019 election manifesto that the defense budget would grow by 0.5 per cent above inflation each year would be violated. However, government officials have privately acknowledged that he is not expected to be hit. It remains unclear how the promise can be fulfilled, given current spending levels and 11% inflation expected this year.
The defense “has lived with a smoke diet and mirrors”
Despite the original draft of his speech, which was drafted at No. 10, Mr. Wallace used his speech at the Royal United Services Institute to support the increase in defense spending in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Just as governments react when the NHS has a winter crisis, “so should the growing security threat that underpins our way of life,” he said. Wallace added: “For a very long time, the defense lived on a smoke and mirror diet, hollow formations and fantasy economies, when in recent years the threats from the states began to increase. “Right now, Russia is the most immediate and pressing threat to Europe, to our allies and to these coasts. I am serious when I say that there is a very real danger of Russia attacking the wider Europe. range and stealth, distance is not protection. “It is time to point out that the peace dividend is over and investment must continue to grow before it is too late to address the resurgent threat and lessons learned in Ukraine. It is time to mobilize, be prepared and we are relevant. “ However, The Telegraph may reveal that it also included a clearer critique of NATO and the United Kingdom’s current commitment to spend two per cent of GDP on defense. The initial draft of the speech was understood to contain a line about how the two percent promise was achieved in 2014 and that, for the next decade, it was time to do more The line was removed after Downing Street intervened on Tuesday morning as it affected costs. The intervention followed newspaper reports that Mr Wallace wanted 10 10 billion a year in additional military spending. Both No. 10 and No. 11 were blinded by hints that Johnson was on the verge of announcing a significant increase in defense spending, according to several sources.
