I was twenty-seven when the Berlin Wall came down. For my generation it was exciting. It really felt like we were casting away the shackles of history.
That our whole continent was uniting behind freedom and democracy.
EPASir Keir Starmer has written his most personal article yet setting out the need to stand by Ukraine and stand up to the tyrant Putin[/caption]
GettyKeir Starmer with Ukraine’s president Zelensky[/caption]
EPAPresident Trump is right that European nations must now take greater responsibility for our security[/caption]
If you had told me that one day we would see Russian tanks sweeping into European cities again, I would never have believed you.
Yet that is exactly what we saw three years ago when Russia invaded Ukraine.
Scenes which seemed to leap straight out of the history books and onto our modern screens. Images we thought we would never see in Europe again.
Just imagine what it must have felt like for ordinary Ukrainians. You could have been sitting in a café, getting your breakfast in Kyiv.
Taking your kids to school in Kharkiv.
Walking to work. Going for a jog. Just a normal, cold, February morning, like any other.
Then suddenly: missiles. Sirens. Explosions. Not in the distance. Not on TV. In your town.
Hitting your community. Killing your friends. An invading army, in your country.
This is the nightmare Ukrainians have woken up to, every day for the last three years. A nightmare caused by one man and one man alone – Vladimir Putin.
I have seen his devastation first hand. I’ve visited the burns unit hospital in Kyiv. I’ve met soldiers who fought bravely on the frontline of freedom.
I’ve chatted to children who now grow up under constant bombardment.
And I’ve been to Bucha, the town where Russian soldiers massacred handcuffed civilians in cold blood.
Trust me, you do not forget a place like Bucha. One moment in particular has stayed with me.
A conversation I had with the people who gathered up the bodies. Their friends, their family, their brothers and sisters.
Wheeled into a mass grave using shopping trolleys. Because the Russians couldn’t even be bothered to bury them.
Everything I have seen only makes me more determined to stand with Ukraine as it fights for its future. I know the British people feel the same.
We recognise the ‘bulldog spirit’ of a country standing up to an enemy that has no limits on its brutality. It is exactly the courage we displayed during the Second World War.
But President Trump is right that European nations must now take greater responsibility for our security.
Reutersthe Ukrainian Armed Forces fire a rocket system toward Russian troops[/caption]
GettyPlanes intrude in our airspace. Bots invade our social media debates, pushing Kremlin-approved narratives[/caption]
We must increase our defence spending, as we’ve promised here in the UK. We must play a bigger role in NATO.
We have talked about this for long enough. Now it is time for action.
President Trump is also right to grasp the nettle and see if a good peace deal is on the table.
Every time I have spoken with him, I am struck by his commitment to peace.
And of course nobody in Britain wants the bloodshed to continue. Yet a good peace can only be won through strength.
Ukraine must have a voice in negotiations about its future. And it needs strong security guarantees so the peace will last.
I believe America must be part of that guarantee.
It’s in their interest. A peace deal which does not stop Putin from attacking again would be a disaster for everyone.
We must increase our defence spending, as we’ve promised here in the UK. We must play a bigger role in NATO.
The best way to make sure that doesn’t happen is to be firm and fair now.
That’s why I’m also open to British troops playing a role in any European force in Ukraine after a peace agreement. This is not something I say lightly.
The responsibility for deploying British soldiers to dangerous places is the gravest task any Prime Minister takes on.
Yet the blunt truth is that it’s not just Ukraine’s security and future at stake. It’s not even just Europe’s security.
It is also our security here in Britain.
After all, it is only seven years since Russian agents launched a chemical weapons attack in Salisbury, in the heart of middle England. Their spy ships still menace our coastline.
Planes intrude in our airspace. Bots invade our social media debates, pushing Kremlin-approved narratives.
But there is also something more. When the Berlin wall came down Britain enjoyed a long period of prosperity.
GREAT LESSON OF HISTORY
It shows a great lesson of our history. That economic instability in Europe always washes up on our shores.
It’s a lesson we have learnt again recently. Because the cost-of-living crisis that has hammered working people has a clear link to instability in Ukraine.
But unless Ukraine is properly protected from Putin’s tyranny, then I’m afraid Europe will only become more unstable. That can only hurt us.
Britain can be proud of how it has stood by Ukraine. Successive Governments have been robust in our defence of democracy and freedom.
Thousands of British families opened their homes to fleeing Ukrainian citizens.
The ‘yellow and light blue’ flutters proudly on churches and village halls, the length and breadth of the country.
As this war enters its fourth year, that solidarity must continue. We must never forget the horror inflicted on ordinary Ukrainians.
And we must never forget that a secure and stable Ukraine is in Britain’s national interest.
Balmoral Castle being lined up to host Donald Trump for second state visit
DONALD Trump is expected to be hosted at Balmoral Castle when he comes to the UK for his second state visit.
The PM is expected to invite the US President for the full bells and whistles visit when the pair meet at the White House later this week.
President Trump is a huge fan of Scotland. His mothers as from Scotland and he has a golf course in Aberdeenshire.
A Whitehall insider said: “President Trump has already been to Windsor and Buckingham Palace, so Balmoral is being talked about for his next visit.
“Everyone knows he loves Scotland, and it is near his golf course.”
Balmoral is a Gothic style castle bought by Queen Victoria in 1852 and surrounded by stunning views of the Highlands.
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