Rishi Sunak has pledge to hike defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030, raising the MOD’s budget to £87bn over the next six years. The move came on a trip to Poland, and was announced via a press release from the Prime Minister’s office – not the Treasury or
Like many of his Shadow Cabinet colleagues John Healy, the Shadow Defence Secretary has been setting out some low or zero-cost reforms to improve the effectiveness of the Ministry of Defence. In a speech in February, he called for: the MoD to reset its relationships with Whitehall, especially the FCDO
A senior diplomat once told me in fluent Yes Minister mandarin that countries encouraging the Irish Republic to join the Commonwealth should do so alphabetically. In short, there was little chance of the UK as the old imperial power being heeded. The impetus in the 1990s for Ireland rejoining the
In a world marked by both diversity and polarisation, the United Kingdom stands as a testament to multiculturalism, bringing together people from various backgrounds, ethnicities, and religions. But despite this rich tapestry – or perhaps because of it – there are those who are hell bent on driving division within
It was an honour to chair the timely Progressive Britain event “Labour and the long fight: How should the next government support Ukraine?” with Ivanna Klumpush, Former Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Luke Pollard, Shadow Defence Minister, Paul Mason, Journalist and Commentator, Jessica Toale, Co-chair of the Labour Foreign Policy
The Second Law of Thermodynamics. I know, bear with me. It governs entropy, the natural and unrelenting process whereby everything is coming apart, degrading, disintegrating. It quantifies the amount of energy required to merely keep all things, very literally, from falling apart. To stop the world around us from vanishing
Social democracy is like painting the Forth Bridge: a ceaseless task of applying progressive values to civilise capitalism. In foreign policy, these values are much harder to deploy in building bridges and challenging hostile actors.Labour’s multi-pronged policy combines securing national interests, which we define differently from the Conservatives, driving development
As Labour prepares for government, the dynamics of the conflict in Ukraine revolve around four variables: who wins the US Presidential election; how much economic and material support Europe is prepared to offer; how much of its economic strength Russia can mobilise; and the continued self-sacrifice of the Ukrainian people.
Across some of the world’s largest democracies, an odd consistency is breaking out. Political commentators may obsess about which outdated election is about to be reproduced. Is it a 1997 style landslide or a Canada 1992 existential wipeout? They talk with wide eyes and rose-tinted specs of the electoral heirs
This will be the fourth time the UK and US will share an election year. Two from the past three election resulted in both a Democrat and Labour win. Not bad statistics to work from. Enough to give you hope, but not enough to rest on your laurels. It makes
