Britain’s military is too “run down” to lead a mooted peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, the former head of the Army has said.
Lord Dannatt said that it “would potentially be quite embarrassing” to attempt to lead such a mission given the present state of the military.
The ex-chief of the general staff said: “Our military is so run down at the present moment, numerically and as far as capability and equipment is concerned, it would potentially be quite embarrassing.”
It comes after Sir Keir Starmer said the UK would “play its part” in guarding future Ukrainian security, opening the door to a British peacekeeping force in the country.
Lord Dannatt is ex-chief of the general staff – David Rose
Lord Dannatt said the Prime Minister and Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, must accept that defence is “more important” than public services and infrastructure.
“I mean, if we were to deploy 10,000 troops, each rotation for six months, that would effectively tie up 30,000 or 40,000 troops and we just haven’t got that number available,” he told the BBC’s Week In Westminster.
It comes amid US government warnings that American troops could withdraw from Europe after decades of Nato cooperation.
Speaking in Poland on Friday, Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, urged: “Now is the time to invest because you can’t make an assumption that America’s presence will last forever.”
In Saturday’s Telegraph, David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, John Healey, the Defence Secretary, made a call for Britain and its European allies to “do more” and “share the burden” of defence.
Another senior military figure has also warned that the UK will need to increase defence spending to Cold War levels of “around about 4 per cent”.
Gen Sir Richard Shirreff, former Nato deputy supreme commander, said the move would “require extraordinary, real sacrifice”.
He told the BBC’s Today programme: “It’s a sacrifice that’s got to be made because unless it’s made we are not going to be able to enjoy peace, our grandchildren will not enjoy peace, for generations to come.”
“The only way that we are going to be able to enjoy peace is through effective deterrence, a Nato band of deterrence from the Baltic to the Black Sea and that will need to be paid for,” he said.
Sir Richard said that America’s rapprochement with Russia is “a defining moment for European militaries and European governments” because the United States military can no longer be relied upon.
British defence spending as a share of GDP peaked in the late 1950s at 7 per cent, during the height of the Cold War.
In 1990-91, as the Soviet Union collapsed, the figure stood at 3.8 per cent.
Nato’s current defence spending target is 2 per cent of GDP.
Britain exceeded the target last year with defence spending equivalent to 2.33 percent of economic output, with a further pledge from the Prime Minister to raise UK spending to 2.5 per cent.
In December, Al Carns, a defence minister and former Royal Marines officer, said the British Army could be destroyed within six months if it fought in a major war.
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
