DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Empty rhetoric will not keep Britain safe

Published: 23:56, 5 June 2026 | Updated: 23:58, 5 June 2026 If wars were won by rhetoric and promises of action, Sir Keir Starmer might be seen as a modern–day Duke of Wellington. Sadly, they aren't – and he isn't. Keeping powerful enemies at bay requires planning and preparedness, enough fighting soldiers and materiel, warships, jets, tanks, missiles and, increasingly, attack drones. Above all it requires leadership and commitment – politically and militarily. Maintaining an effective modern Army, Navy and Air Force can't be done on the cheap. If Sir Keir were in any doubt about the threats facing us on all sides, the point was rammed home yesterday by Sir Richard Knighton, Chief of the Defence Staff. 'The risks and threats to this country are greater than I have known since the Cold War,' he said. 'We need to spend more on defence and do it faster.' In his diplomatic way, Sir Richard was urging the Government to start taking defence seriously, rather than talking a big game then doing nothing. The PM was at it again yesterday, posing at a defence factory in Wiltshire and pledging an uplift in spending, but when will we see it – and will it be enough to keep us safe? The much–vaunted Defence Investment Plan is more than a year overdue, as the Ministry of Defence and the Treasury bicker over how much extra cash is needed. Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks as he visits STARK, a leading defence tech company Military planners say they need £28billion, the PM was expected to agree £18billion and now there are reports Chancellor Rachel Reeves wants to cut that further to £15billion. Meanwhile, the Russians become ever bolder in threatening our airspace and undersea infrastructure and both they and the Chinese wage relentless cyber warfare against us. Bloody war rages on in Ukraine, shattering the security of our continent, and the Middle East conflict risks crashing the global economy as well as threatening British interests in Cyprus and the Gulf. In such a world, we should be girding our loins for action, not bellyaching about the cost. Two months ago, former Nato chief George Robertson rightly accused Sir Keir and his ministers over their 'corrosive complacency' towards the defence of the realm.  That complacency was brutally exposed after the outbreak of the US/Iran war, when we were unable to get a warship into the Mediterranean for several weeks. The Army is at its smallest since the Battle of Waterloo, while wokery and the persecution by human rights lawyers of veterans who served in Ulster, Iraq and Afghanistan have contributed to a recruitment crisis. Today, we report on a fresh humiliation. Our £3.5billion aircraft carrier Prince of Wales has conked out again, marooned in the Norwegian fjords because of another 'technical defect'. HMS Prince of Wales has been sidelined in Stavanger, Norway, following a technical defect detected This is supposed to be a state–of–the–art vessel, yet it seems to have the reliability of a 1960s Mini. So, it is not only the Government that needs to raise its game, but also military designers and strategists. Rather than equipping our Armed Forces to fight the battles of the past, they must prepare them for the wars of the future, where remote technology will be more important than tanks on the ground. That transition is already under way but must now accelerate at pace to keep up with our enemies. However, that cannot be done without the proper funding. We currently spend around £66billion on defence, compared with £322billion on welfare. In today's volatile world, that is a truly dangerous imbalance which must be urgently rectified. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.