Sunak will take the defense wins in Europe – but tricky local elections lurk at home
By Beth Rigby, political editor
This was a trip with two goals: to refocus the world’s attention on Ukraine and announce a big boost in defense spending – with an eye, of course, on national security, but also on the general election.
When it comes to Ukraine, this was a co-ordinated effort across the Atlantic.
As Rishi Sunak arrived in Berlin, overnight in Washington the US was finally approving a $600m military aid package for Kyiv.
This was all designed to send a message to Russia – allies are in lockstep and will stand behind Ukraine for as long as it takes.
The prime minister used the Poland leg of the trip to commit the UK to spending 2.5% of GDP on defense by 2030, while in Berlin, Mr Sunak announced a formal bilateral security partnership with Germany to deepen co-operation on defense and military manufacturing.
It was all part of his agenda to position himself as a wartime leader, speaking of the UK’s defense industry going onto a war footing as Europe stood at a turning point.
“The world we are living in is increasingly dangerous and the axis of authoritarian states are working together to undermine our security,” he told his audience in Berlin.
“We need to do more. Germany has done more and we have met the NATO standard [on spending]and you see global defense spending is rising.”
Mr Sunak added: “I do believe we will look back at this moment in time and recognize this inflection point, where the old paradigm is no longer the case and we need to adjust for a new paradigm.”
Read Beth’s full analysis here:
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