Keir Starmer blasted by former Royal Navy commander for 'slow' response to UK defence spending: 'Frustrating!'

A Retired Royal Navy Commander has launched a scathing attack on Sir Keir Starmer for his "slow" and "frustrating" approach to Britain's defences.

Speaking to GB News, Tom Sharpe OBE criticised the Government for allowing the department of Defence to "descend into farce".

Following the resignations of John Healey and Al Carns earlier this week, newly appointed Defence Secretary has urged the Government to "meet the moment" on military spending.

He told The Telegraph: "It's a moment of challenge. It's the responsibility of our Government to rise to meet the moment of that challenge, and that is what I will be working to achieve."

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Reacting to the current state of Britain's defences, Mr Sharpe told GB News that the country has become "dependent" and "vulnerable".

He said: "We've left everything and we've outsourced an awful lot of our energy, which makes us very dependent and vulnerable.

"And I think the Iran shocks, we're still to feel the worst of that, so we've got to turn a corner."

Taking aim at the Prime Minister, Mr Sharpe added: "I think it's very frustrating how slow this Government has been to do that, they've been in for over two years.

"They did a defence review that took a year, I don't know why that took a year, and then it's taken a year to cost that defence review or as we now know, to not cost it. And it's descended into farce at the last minute with ministers resigning."

The ex-Royal Navy commander urged the Government to "prioritise money accordingly" to avoid a continued "hair-pulling contest" between departments.

He told GB News: "The first thing we've got to do is get ourselves organised, and then we've got to work out what we want to achieve as a country and prioritise money accordingly.

"We can't allow this any longer to become a hair-pulling contest between different departments of state, so the Prime Minister has to lead this and his direction."

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Mr Sharpe stated: "Every time he [Keir Starmer] opens his mouth, he says that defence and security are his first priorities. He now needs to back that up.

"And then once that's in place, once the leadership and the cascade is in place, we then need a bit of a root and branch. The way we do our defence business, it's very old, it's very sticky. It's very bound in culture and change aversion.

"We've got to rip up the rulebook and start again and move much, much faster to modernise and expand."

Asked by host Nana Akua how he would fund defence, he stressed that there are "thousands of ways" the Government could find the money to increase defence spending.

Mr Sharpe said: "The fact of the matter is we're talking about percentages of a GDP. We're talking about going from 2.3 per cent to 3.5. I mean, by definition, they are a small fraction of the whole, so we have to find a way of where to take those from.

"And there are thousands of ways. That's why I'm not going to list any, because there are thousands of ways this could be done, most of which just involve efficiencies.

"They don't even have to involve taking money from other people, it's just about improving the systems by which we do all this.

"Defence has a role to play here too, because it is grossly inefficient. It is a mini NHS in terms of wastefulness, so there's many, many angles here. But if we don't get it right, then the risk to us goes up. And whether you believe there's a threat or not, I believe there is."

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