Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson during a visit to RAF Lossiemouth, Moray. April, 2018. Jane Barlow/Press Association. All rights reserved.
The United Kingdom's defence policy is an unholy mess on many levels. At present, most public focus is on basic questions of expenditure and the frictions these are generating inside Britain's Conservative government. In many ways this represents a diversion, but it does indicate how far the political establishment is at sea over this policy area, and how important it is to articulate new ideas.
A new report by the House of Commons' defence select committee recommends a huge increase in military spending, up about 50% on current figures to take it to 3% of GDP, much higher than the Nato preference for a 2% minimum. The call is backed by the defence secretary Gavin Williamson, but strongly opposed by the chancellor, Philip Hammond: the result, an increasingly bitter row between the two departments.
