UK PM Sunak Meets NATO Chief Stoltenberg in Warsaw

Rishi Sunak is in Poland this afternoon, where he has just pledged to increase the UK’s defense spending to 2.5% of GDP by the end of the decade.

Speaking at a news conference in Warsaw, Sunak described the plan as the “biggest strengthening of our national defense for a generation.” From the the press pack travelling with the prime minister on his two-day trip to Europe, my colleague Alex Wickham has all the details.

There are two reasons for Sunak’s announcement today. The first is geopolitical. As regular readers of this newsletter will know, there is growing pressure on all NATO members to increase their military spending to 2% of GDP because of growing conflicts around the world. Sunak’s announcement raises the pressure on other NATO allies to act. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, alongside Sunak, pointedly praised the UK for “leading by example.” Both men spoke in stark terms about the “increasingly dangerous world” and were clear — this is driven by concern about the war in Ukraine and what might happen next. The location at a barracks, where British troops are “protecting NATO’s eastern flank” as Sunak put it, only drove the point home.

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