Keir Starmer's just allowed Macron to pull his pants down - UK's never looked so weak
To add further insult to injury, France has massively shown us up on the global stage.
Just when we thought HMS Dragon was finally full steam ahead to Cyprus, we’re met with another twist in this humiliating fiasco. Reports suggest the £1 billion warship — which set sail for the Eastern Mediterranean on Tuesday — has spent three days in the English Channel and only left UK waters on Thursday.
And while it is not unusual for ships — as the Ministry of Defence pointed out — to carry out some final preparations shortly after leaving port, the wider debacle has horribly exposed the UK Armed Forces’ sorry state of affairs after decades of salami-slicing. To add further insult to injury, France has shown us up big time on the global stage. Questions are being asked of Sir Keir Starmer’s readiness for the war in the Middle East and it appears a blame game is intensifying within the corridors of Whitehall.
READ MORE: Starmer urged by ex-chief to consider putting UK on 'war footing'
READ MORE: The 1 key thing HMS Dragon might have to do before finally arriving in Cyprus
The latest developments means it is almost certain HMS Dragon will not reach Cyprus until more than TWO WEEKS after an RAF base on the island was hit by a drone, believed to have been fired by pro-Iranian militias in western Iraq or Lebanon.
The deployment of HMS Dragon, an air defence specialist well-equipped to take down ballistic missiles and drones which could threaten British troops, was announced last Tuesday, two days after the incident at RAF Akrotiri.
She departed Portsmouth a week later, with Defence Secretary John Healey saying “what is normally six weeks of work was completed in just six days” in a “remarkable effort delivered around the clock”.
However, the Type 45 destroyer — which had been coming out of a maintenance period — is understood to have been classed as operational and at 72 hours’ notice to sail.
In stark contrast, France managed to quickly redirect a carrier strike group from near Sweden to Cyprus.
Another ship was also dispatched, while an additional 10 warships — including eight frigates, one more than the total the Royal Navy has at its disposal — are also being sent to waters around the Middle East.
Former Royal Navy chief Lord West told me that the difference in the responses between Paris and London is “embarrassing”.
This has to be a wake-up call for Sir Keir and Chancellor Rachel Reeves in particular who is seemingly against giving defence some much-needed extra cash.
Defence is not just about deterring or fighting wars, it is a key geopolitical tool and this is something some will argue this Labour government has failed to understand.
And make no mistake, the issues surrounding HMS Dragon and our wider preparedness for the Iran war has harmed our reputation.
It is now up to the Government to decide the lessons learned.
The worry is the next crisis could be an even more serious situation and it is apparent the era of salami-slicing has left us in a precarious position.
