Nigel Farage will seek to make Britain a ‘great power once again’, Danny Kruger announced today. Reform’s head of preparing for government pledged to upgrade the country from its ‘regional heavyweight’ status to that of a ‘leading economic, technical, diplomatic and security power’ in Europe.
Kruger set out the foundations of his party’s approach to defence for the first time in a keynote address at The Spectator’s National Security Summit. The intervention comes as the government faces mounting pressure to agree and publish its long-delayed defence investment plan, which is intended to explain how Britain will meet rising threats and address a £28 billion funding shortfall in its depleted defence base. The delay has become increasingly conspicuous in the context of a more volatile global arena.
While Kruger’s speech was light on concrete policies, it offered an insight into the direction in which Reform wants to take the Ministry of Defence and armed forces. Should Farage become prime minister, he declared, policies would be built around making the country a rival to the US and China in military might and influence. The ambition is not one of ‘national self-esteem’ but ‘what the national interest demands’. The Reform MP argued that prosperity and security will not materialise unless Britain builds power on the global stage.
