EUROPE is in full “something-must-be-done” mode after Uncle Sam finally called time on us drinking on his tab.
Sir Keir Starmer sniffs an opportunity that could make or break his premiership — but he is going to need to put his money where his mouth is to pull it off.
Europe is in full ‘something-must-be-done’ mode after Uncle Sam finally called time on us drinking on his tab
AFPStarmer says he will be ‘taking a message’ from Paris directly to the White House like a trans-atlantic Cupid tying together the two continents[/caption]
With the PM finally getting the call-up to Washington DC next week, he is due in Paris tonight for President Macron’s panicked summit in response to the White House saying it is time for Europe to pay up on defence.
After a polite shellacking from Vice President JD Vance on Friday and electroshock therapy from his boss Donald Trump, the howls from the Continent are at fever pitch.
Those close to Starmer say he will be “taking a message” from Paris directly to the White House like a trans-atlantic Cupid tying together the two continents — something tried by many British premiers before him.
Euro-whiner
It rarely works, and is an especially tall task amid the little man syndrome of Macron.
I was at a brutal EU summit in Malta in 2017 where Theresa May made a similar offer to be Europe’s “bridge” to the last Trump White House — only to see the ex-PM humiliated by Angela Merkel and Co in a series of stinging put-downs.
However, in the unlikely event the Europeans play ball, Starmer may yet find a role for himself in the world that, despite all those air miles, he has yet to articulate.
But truth be told, the UK is up to its neck in all this as much as any Euro-whiner.
Since the end of the Cold War, European countries — including Britain — have ploughed their taxpayers’ money away from defence and into the welfare state.
This so-called “peace dividend” may have led to ballooning benefits and healthcare, but in reality it meant a massive subsidy from the US taxpayer for the ability for us to sleep peacefully in our beds.
Pointing out this unfairness is nothing new, with countless US presidents — even those deemed socially acceptable by the British Left, like Obama — warning for years that the situation is untenable.
Well, now the music may have finally stopped as the White House confirmed the election rhetoric was not a bluff and America really will be once again retreating into a more isolationist stance.
And Europe and Nato are reeling, noisily making daft claims such as that the US is no longer an ally.
As growth splutters across the Continent, that defence black hole looks almost insurmountable to some countries.
Nato’s boss Mark Rutte talks the talk about Europe stepping up, but is left open to hypocrisy charges, given that the Netherlands — where he was previously prime minister — failed to hit Nato’s two per cent spending target when he led the country for 14 years.
Starmer knows he is going to have to pay to play, and a crunch is coming where he will have to hike British defence spending soon to have any shred of credibility.
That leaves Chancellor Rachel Reeves facing a massive headache at a time when government spending is already due to be massively cut to avoid further tax hikes.
Apart from during those two bloody Middle Eastern interventions, our defence spending has bumped along at around two per cent of GDP for decades.
The Mega AgencyWithin days of Trump taking office, more than 100 major diversity contracts were voided, and 10,000 civil servants doling out US taxpayers’ cash abroad at USAid shrunk to just 300[/caption]
That’s far short of the cash needed just to stand still in terms of our dwindling firepower.
An extra £5billion a year to hit 2.5 per cent of GDP may sound doable amid the near-£1trillion the Government already spends every year — but the Treasury is playing hardball.
The Chancellor is asking the Ministry of Defence the simple question: what would you slash instead to free up the cash?
But would it really be so hard to find some palatable savings?
As our front page reveals today, government spending is as bonkers as it has ever been — despite years of promises from the Tories to get a grip.
Nothing has really changed as we shell out for shrimp studies, poetry classes and gender projects in countries that can frankly afford their own woke nonsense.
We need drones, not prawns.
Grand ambitions
Only under Labour could a new Office for Value for Money — announced with much fanfare — immediately be ruled a waste of cash by a parliamentary watchdog.
The new body was set up eight months ago but last month was ruled to have “no clear plan” and branded a “red herring” by the Treasury Select Committee.
Meanwhile across the Pond, Elon Musk’s DOGE project has not yet been going a month and has already shuttered BILLIONS of dollars of spending from more than 30 government agencies.
Within days of Trump taking office, more than 100 major diversity contracts were voided, and 10,000 civil servants doling out US taxpayers’ cash abroad at USAid shrunk to just 300.
Two million more government workers were offered nine months’ pay to just walk away.
DOGE is working.
Food for thought for a PM with grand ambitions on the world stage, and in dire need of the chips to stay at the big boys’ table.
TANKS A LOT, KEMI
KEMI BADENOCH’S ratings began tanking about the time she went to war with Nigel Farage, accusing Reform of making up their soaring membership figures.
But what of the Conservatives’ own figures?
There were 131,680 eligible paid-up voters at last summer’s leadership election, with a Tory HQ mole telling me this week that has plummeted by more than 7,000 and now sits at fewer than 125,000.
Nonsense says a party spokesman, insisting the figures are actually up.
Perhaps they should open their books to the Press like Reform did to back up their numbers?
No action on Starmer Covid breach
AFTER wriggling free of a fine over Beergate, the mystery of Sir Keir Starmer’s voice coaching session at the height of lockdown fell outside of the three-year sunset clause on Covid laws.
No further action, said Inspector Knacker, after the PM’s glamorous actress friend travelled across tiers to be at his side on Christmas Eve 2020.
AlamyStarmer’s voice coaching session at the height of lockdown fell outside of the three-year sunset clause on Covid laws[/caption]
GettyThe PM’s glamorous actress friend travelled across tiers to be at his side on Christmas Eve 2020[/caption]
But the verdict is in from the court of public opinion, and it is damning.
Close to 65 per cent say Leonie Mellinger was not a key worker, with more than two-thirds branding Starmer a hypocrite after his lockdown bashing of Boris Johnson.
Those attacks came after Keir was meeting his voice coach indoors when everyone else was ordered to work from home.
And 68 per cent say it warrants an apology, according to polling by More In Common.
Don’t hold your breath for that to be forthcoming . . .
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