The Strategic Defence Review (SDR), published a year ago and meant to be the fundamental framework of the government’s defence policy, was not a faultless document. On one issue at least, though, it was very clear: the United Kingdom’s steadfast commitment to Nato should be the primary focus of its strategic posture.
The primacy of the alliance was emphasised so often it almost felt like subliminal suggestion. Keir Starmer’s foreword promised Britain would ‘lead in Nato’; the Defence Secretary John Healey said ‘our defence policy is “Nato First’”, referred to ‘our unshakeable commitment to Nato’ and pledged to ‘provide leadership in Nato’. Meanwhile, the SDR’s authors said that ‘Nato is the bedrock of our defence’ and ‘at the forefront of the UK’s many valuable alliances’. ‘Nato First’ was labelled ‘the defining principle of this review’.
I labour the point because the reality is not just the government falling some way short of its grand rhetoric and ambitious aspirations. The UK is failing very seriously in its commitments to Nato. The government’s actions, rather than its words, make defence policy look almost like ‘Nato last’, the SDR reflected in a funhouse mirror.
UK defence policy is currently a parody of ‘Nato First’
