What Boris Johnson has planned for his £16bn military spending spree
Space defence, cyber-offence and artificial intelligence to benefit from funding surge
Britain’s “era of retreat” is over, Boris Johnson has declared, as he announced plans to “transform our armed forces, bolster our global influence, unite and level up our country, pioneer new technology and defend our people and way of life”.
His ambitions will be funded by a £16.5bn rise in defence spending over the next four years, amounting to an increase of about 10% in the annual budget.
The settlement is “more generous than anticipated”, says The Times, after the prime minister overruled Treasury misgivings. “Upgrading the military will form a pillar of Mr Johnson’s plan to ‘build back better’ from coronavirus by creating jobs and will underpin a drive to defend free societies around the world.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It marks a sudden about turn after the £8bn military cuts enacted by Conservative governments since 2010. The Ministry of Defence has a £13bn hole in its finances which, earlier this year, led to discussions about retiring the UK’s 600-strong fleet of tanks and armoured fighting vehicles.
They may still be destined for the scrap heap, according to the BBC, which says “difficult decisions about cutting old equipment to fund the new are still to be made”. Britain will “let go of some older capabilities”, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed this morning.
In their place will rise a “National Cyber Force of hackers” to conduct offensive operations against enemy states, an agency dedicated to military artificial intelligence and a “new Space Command designed to protect orbiting satellites and launch its own rockets”, The Guardian reports.
The spending spree is designed to bring geopolitical advantage too, says The Times. By reinforcing “Britain’s status as the largest defence spender in Europe and the second largest in Nato”, it will raise “Britain’s chances of remaining the favoured military partner of the United States, ahead of France”.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Holden Frith is The Week’s digital director. He also makes regular appearances on “The Week Unwrapped”, speaking about subjects as diverse as vaccine development and bionic bomb-sniffing locusts. He joined The Week in 2013, spending five years editing the magazine’s website. Before that, he was deputy digital editor at The Sunday Times. He has also been TheTimes.co.uk’s technology editor and the launch editor of Wired magazine’s UK website. Holden has worked in journalism for nearly two decades, having started his professional career while completing an English literature degree at Cambridge University. He followed that with a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago. A keen photographer, he also writes travel features whenever he gets the chance.
-
The Pentagon faces an uncertain future with Trump
Talking Point The president-elect has nominated conservative commentator Pete Hegseth to lead the Defense Department
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
This is what you should know about State Department travel advisories and warnings
In Depth Stay safe on your international adventures
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
'All Tyson-Paul promised was spectacle and, in the end, that's all we got'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Is Henry Kissinger right about Ukraine?
Speed Read The US statesman made a controversial speech at a virtual Davos appearance last week
By The Week Staff Published
-
How much has the UK spent on Ukraine?
Today's Big Question The government announced earlier this month it would send £1.3bn in military support to war-torn country
By The Week Staff Published
-
Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused evacuation as Russian hitmen ‘parachuted’ into Kyiv
Speed Read Ukrainian president turned down opportunity to leave capital despite threat to life, adviser claims
By The Week Staff Published
-
Boris Johnson meets with Zelensky during secret trip to Ukraine
Speed Read
By Grayson Quay Published
-
Boris Johnson is 'desperate' to visit Ukraine, conservative leader says
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
'We will fight to the end': Zelensky quotes Churchill in speech to U.K. Parliament
Speed Read
By Grayson Quay Published
-
Ukrainian journalist confronts Boris Johnson: 'NATO is afraid of World War III, but it is already started'
Speed Read
By Brigid Kennedy Published
-
What can Boris Johnson and Liz Truss do for Ukraine?
Today's Big Question Foreign secretary accused of ‘playing into Putin’s hands’ as UK launches diplomatic push to avert war
By The Week Staff Published