Starmer's zombie government puts Putin defence plan on hold

Keir Starmer may be forced to attend next month’s Nato summit without the UK’s blueprint to prepare for war, defence insiders fear.

And a planned EU-UK summit to discuss the post-Brexit reset deal has also been postponed as Brussels chiefs said they were “reassessing” the timings in light of the Prime Minister’s resignation.

In a sign that Starmer is already in charge of a “zombie” government, he did not appear at the Despatch Box on Monday afternoon to deliver the Commons statement on last week’s G7 summit, as is traditional, instead sending his deputy David Lammy to update MPs.

Shorts

The Prime Minister had originally pledged to publish the Defence Investment Plan (DIP) in time for the gathering of leaders of the alliance, including Donald Trump, in Turkish capital Ankara on 7 July.