Does Britain’s defence plan make it NATO’s weak link?
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What is the Defence Investment Plan and why does Britain claim it will strengthen NATO?
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This episode of The General and the Journalist is brought to you by Team Orion. At a time where the world is increasingly uncertain, defence needs more than traditional logistics to face those challenges. It takes trusted data, rapid decision-making and operational resilience. That's where Team Orion comes in. strengthening defence readiness through integration. Combining the sovereign expertise of KBR, Unipart and IBM, Team Orion delivers the decision-making power and support systems to sustain forces when the stakes are high. Discover how Team Orion is helping shape the future of defence readiness. Follow them on LinkedIn at Team Orion Defence. Britain has always been a leading power in NATO, but recently that position has come under heavy questioning, with allied nations rapidly overtaking us in defence spending and accusations of the UK failing to deliver on key commitments.
Then the government published its long-awaited defence investment plan this week, which they claim will turn all this around.
Now, we are already delivering the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the 1980s, £270 billion over the spending review period. And I can announce today that under the Defence Investment Plan, we are increasing this by a further £15 billion, setting a new record of spending almost £300 billion over the next four years to back our armed forces and strengthen our national security.
But will it? And what will be the consequences for Britain
if it doesn't? I'm Tom. And I'm Patrick. Welcome to The General and the Journalist. Well, joining this week is someone who could not be better qualified to answer those questions. Admiral Sir Keith Blount, who has just stepped down as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe. That's quite a title. It is. As my
mother said, it's great apart from deputy.
Yeah.
Mothers are never happy. Welcome to the podcast, Keith. So DeSacker, as I think we'll probably go on to call it for the rest of the podcast, one of the most senior, one of the most prestigious, one of the most important jobs in the Alliance. The first person held that office was Phil Marshall Montgomery. Prior to that, of course, you were NATO's maritime component commander working from its headquarters in Northwood, just outside London. So for listeners who may not be as geeky or knowledgeable on NATO, just tell us what the de-sacker role involves. And what is it that you get to see from that position that most people in the UK or indeed the British Armed Forces don't?
Okay, so in my office in Mons, Belgium, where the supreme headquarters of the Allied powers in Europe is situated and where I worked, I had the original letter from General Eisenhower to General Montgomery outlining the roles and responsibilities of de Saccure. And it has not changed. So those roles and responsibilities have endured. It's ultimately about force generation. It's about making sure that NATO has the right forces at readiness to be able to deter and, if necessary, fight and win. That has not changed. It's the enduring responsibility. of de-SACUIR. I also had additional responsibilities given to me by the SACUIRs that I served with. One of them was around command and control because there was a lot of realignment of that required after we rewrote the plans.
And finally, I was on point as the Allied Command Operations Lead at FORESTAR for the NATO defence planning process, which is an acronym I had studiously avoided for the first 40 years of my career. and then got thrust into in the last two. But it is really important and actually sits at the heart of a lot of what I'm sure we'll go on
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the Defence Investment Plan and why does Britain claim it will strengthen NATO?
0:00–6:54
2
How does Admiral Sir Keith Blount describe the role of the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe?
6:54–12:09
3
What have been the biggest changes in the security threat landscape over the past seven years?
12:09–21:44
4
Why does the UK struggle to meet NATO’s capability‑target commitments?
21:44–33:31
5
How realistic is the £15 billion boost in the Defence Investment Plan for meeting 3 %‑of‑GDP goals?
33:31–42:07