Ben Wallace: Boris Johnson & Rishi Sunak must invest more in defence | Politics Live | New Statesman
June 30, 2022
1,107
25
11
3.25%
Search the Record
IndexedEvery word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
Chapters
YouTube Description
as posted by the channelThe Defence Secretary has criticised cabinet colleagues including Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak over their security spending.
Subscribe on YouTube
Speaking on a panel alongside Dame Margaret Beckett, Ben Wallace said the government should approach spending in response to rising global security threats in a similar way to how they tackle the NHS winter crisis.
Wallace said: "Every time there's an NHS winter crisis, governments and chancellors respond to that. Not sure they respond to threat increases around the world in the same way".
The Defence Secretary has been extremely vocal about perceived shortfalls in military funding, with some well-sourced reports suggesting he had demanded to increase the defence budget to 2.5% of GDP. In this interview he denies that 2.5% figure, but says that while the government has been receiving money in the form of the Peace Dividend since the end of the Cold War, "there is a time to take, and a time to invest". The rising threat of Russia and the war in Ukraine means that the time to invest, according to Wallace, is now.
Ben Wallace was taking part in a panel discussion at the New Statesman Politics Live conference discussing the biggest threats to UK National Security. The panel was hosted by Harry Lambert of the New Statesman and other speakers included Margaret Beckett, chair of the National Security Strategy select committee, Patricia Lewis, director of the International Security Programme at Chatham House, and Charles Woodburn, CEO of BAE Systems.
--
Chapters:
--
The New Statesman brings you unrivalled analysis of the latest UK and international politics. On our YouTube channel you’ll find insight on the top news and global current affairs stories, as well as insightful interviews with politicians, advisers and leading political thinkers, to help you understand the political and economic forces shaping the world.
With regular contributions from our writers including Political Editor Andrew Marr and Anoosh Chakelian - host of the New Statesman podcast - we’ll help you understand the world of politics and global affairs from Westminster to Washington and beyond.
SUBSCRIBE on YouTube
Links & Promotions
Guests & Subjects Covered
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.