The UK is facing a “rude wake-up call” about its national security posture, with former NATO Secretary-General George Robertson expected to warn that Britain is not investing enough in defence amid rising global instability.
In a speech due later today, Lord Robertson is set to argue that the UK is “underprepared, underinsured, under attack,” warning that national safety is now in jeopardy as the conflict in Iran exposes weaknesses in military readiness and logistics.
He is expected to say: “We are not safe… Britain’s national security and safety are in peril,” in one of his starkest interventions on defence policy since leaving NATO.
Lord Robertson, who led the alliance between 1999 and 2003, will also criticise what he describes as Treasury-driven constraints on military spending, accusing “non-military experts in the Treasury” of committing “vandalism” against Britain’s defence capability.
His remarks come amid heightened scrutiny of UK military readiness, including criticism over naval preparedness and the ability to deploy forces rapidly to protect British assets in the eastern Mediterranean, particularly Cyprus, as tensions linked to Iran escalate.
He is also expected to highlight broader structural weaknesses, including shortages in ammunition, equipment, logistics, medical support and cyber capability, warning that complacency in Whitehall is leaving the UK exposed to fast-moving threats.
The intervention follows recent UK military activity tracking Russian submarines in the North Atlantic. Defence Secretary John Healey confirmed that a Royal Navy warship and a P-8 patrol aircraft were deployed on a month-long operation to monitor suspected surveillance activity near undersea infrastructure.
A government spokesperson defended current policy, pointing to what it called the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War, totalling more than £270bn over the current parliament, and said the government is implementing the recommendations of the strategic defence review.
The exchange underscores growing tension between warnings from senior military figures about capability gaps and government claims that investment is already being significantly increased to meet emerging threats.
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