Telling the truth about defence

Speaking to around 700 troops at a garrison in North Yorkshire, Britain’s Army chief, General Sir Roly Walker, dared to say something that no minister has yet been honest about. Walker said that our political leaders will soon have a “frank conversation” with the public about the risks we face and the need for citizens to consent to “sacrifices”.

Warnings like this usually come from retired generals, plastered across print and broadcast media — but not from current top brass, who rarely put their head above the parapet. Walker standing up and delivering a stark statement about what the country needs should be seen as a defining moment. As groundbreaking as this is, however, it shouldn’t shock anyone that improving our defences will require sacrifices. As always, X reactionaries lose the nuance and go into overdrive.

“Warmongering Fabian Marxist”, that’s the usual slander you are subjected to if you dare to suggest Brits should serve their country. I spent the weekend trawling comments on X reacting to Walker’s video, and aside from the obvious bots, there was the generic sludge of predictable trash talk. They say this is no longer the Britain they recognise; therefore, why should they be prepared to serve or make sacrifices for it? Russia isn’t the enemy; the enemy is within, they exclaim from behind their keyboards.

British Army veterans like Shaun Pinner would beg to differ. Not only has he served his country, but as a former Ukrainian Marine, Pinner understands who the real enemy is. He has suffered at the hands of Putin’s barbarous men. During the siege of Mariupol, Pinner was captured and sentenced to death. Despite being eventually freed in a prisoner exchange, he spent time being beaten and tortured as a prisoner of war. Pinner tells me his ordeal took place in a “Nazi-style concentration camp” where he was “stabbed and electrocuted”. Try telling him Russia isn’t the enemy.

Cut through the noise, and you realise Walker’s case is sober, and former British Army colonel Simon Diggins agrees. He firmly believes national resilience has a “strong moral component”, one that involves personal and societal preparedness. The Finns, Poles, Swedes, and others all recognise that only a whole-of-society approach will do; as Diggins says, Britain now needs the “will and moral courage to do the same”.

The “sacrifices” Walker speaks of are more civic than military

But what sacrifices are we expected to make? Many jump to the conclusion that what Walker is asking for is rows of young men lined up, boots on and assault rifles in hand, to head down to their local conscription office and then to be shipped off to die in the Donbas in yet another ‘foreign war’. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The “sacrifices” Walker speaks of are more civic than military. Should there be a drone or missile attack on mainland Britain, we will have to accept limitations on where we can travel. When the threats are clear, people will come together and respect restrictions. Whatever your views during the pandemic, the vast majority respected and adhered to the first lockdown, and we saw people band together and work as communities.

Sacrificing time to volunteer your services, not in a frontline capacity but as part of a civil-defence, home-guard-style operation, will be necessary. It isn’t clear what such an outfit would look like, but helping defend our critical national infrastructure in some capacity will be vital. And finally, there is the fiscal sacrifice. Whether the PM and Chancellor realise it yet, we will have to spend more on defence, and that means cutting spending elsewhere. But given the overbloated welfare budget, it shouldn’t be hard to know where to swing the axe first.

No one understands our lack of readiness and resilience better than Lord Arbuthnot, who chaired the Defence Select Committee for nine years. The Tory peer says Britain has “forgotten the need for defence” because we’ve lived a sheltered existence under the NATO umbrella. But now, as cracks appear in our relationship with our senior ally in the White House, we’re quickly realising how “vulnerable” we are.

Now, we need what the Strategic Defence Review originally promised: an honest conversation and public education. Lord Arbuthnot suggests the Prime Minister hold a cross-party summit between “all the leaders of the main political parties” on defence, and town halls up and down the country to “explore our priorities in the way that we spend money”.

We have to address and change the country’s culture and lack of self-sufficiency if we are to see any real, material change in attitudes towards serving and making sacrifices in the name of defence. As Lord Arbuthnot says: “I do not believe that we can afford a system where nine million people of working age are on benefits. That doesn’t make the country stronger.”

Our NATO allies shame us. Poland runs a scheme training its citizens in the basics of survival and cyber literacy. Denmark, Estonia, Finland and Sweden all have conscription. France and Germany have both launched new voluntary military service schemes this year. Meanwhile, Britain has nothing of note. We can’t even muster a basic voluntary service.

Walker has started Burnham’s job for him. He’s told the public an uncomfortable truth that now needs action. And to those who say they don’t want to serve in Andy Burnham’s name, I ask: do you really think Ukrainians are fighting for Volodymyr Zelensky? Of course not. Ordinary civilians are fighting to keep their way of life, their communities, language and culture. Russia is trying to strip all of that away.

As the saying goes: “If you want peace, prepare for war.” What Sir Roly Walker is asking of Brits costs little, especially when what we could lose as a nation is so great. If you aren’t willing to serve and make sacrifices for your country, that’s up to you. But I have to ask: what exactly do you think is worth protecting? Despite all its flaws and the doomsters who talk us down, Britain is still a proud nation with democratic, Western values worth fighting for.