The world is a more dangerous place now than at any time since the Cold War — perhaps even since 1945. Some of our politicians, though, behave as though their own careers mattered far more than national security.
With the fall of the Ukrainian city Avdiivka, Vladimir Putin’s war of conquest is entering a new phase, and Alexei Navalny’s suspicious death in an Arctic prison has robbed the Russian opposition of its last hope.
In the Far East, China is threatening to invade Taiwan, prompting its neighbours to prepare for the worst.
Meanwhile, the war in Israel and Gaza has plunged the Middle East into turmoil, with Iranian proxies fomenting trouble across the region.
As always, British forces are wherever the action is. Alongside the US, our aircraft and warships are engaged in the Red Sea against Houthi terrorists, protecting shipping lanes that are vital for our prosperity.
Yet as Andrew Neil wrote in the Mail recently, our Army, Navy and Air Force are all far too small. Despite the fact that we spend more than £50billion a year on defence, our forces are crippled by manpower shortages, incompetence and reckless squandering of resources.
With the fall of the Ukrainian city Avdiivka, Vladimir Putin ‘s war of conquest is entering a new phase, and Alexei Navalny’s suspicious death in an Arctic prison has robbed the Russian opposition of its last hope. Pictured: General Patrick Sanders (left) and Defence Secretary Grant Shapps (right)
Yet as Andrew Neil wrote in the Mail recently, our Army, Navy and Air Force are all far too small. Pictured: Joint military exercises in Poland
This month alone we have witnessed a humiliation of the Royal Navy that would have made Nelson weep. Our flagship, the aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth, was supposed to lead Nato’s Steadfast Defender exercise, but was confined to port by a rusty propeller shaft. ‘Big Lizzie’ had to be replaced by her no less accident-prone sister ship, Prince of Wales, escorted by four patrol boats made of plastic.
These and countless other procurement problems stem from the Ministry of Defence. The chronic failure of its 3,500 staff who work in Whitehall to deliver on time and within budget is not a secret — it’s a scandal.
What’s beyond doubt is that we must increase defence spending but use the money wisely.
So where, then, is the minister responsible for our Armed Forces? Surely he must be working day and night to cleanse the Augean stables at the MoD?
Alas not: it seems that His Majesty’s Secretary of State for Defence is otherwise engaged.
Grant Shapps was reported yesterday to be spending plenty of time on manoeuvres — but not of the military kind.
‘Grant is barely in the MoD these days,’ an inside source told The Mail on Sunday.
‘He does about six days a month. The rest of the time he is plotting to become leader.’ If this claim is even partly true — and it is strongly denied by his allies — then Mr Shapps is unfit for his post. The charge against him is not merely disloyalty to the Prime Minister, but dereliction of duty to the country.
In 2022, Mr Shapps — then transport secretary — set up a WhatsApp group known as ‘SLAP’ (‘Shapps Leadership Action Plan’) as part of his bid to succeed Boris Johnson.
The MoS source alleges that Mr Shapps has now revived SLAP to further his leadership ambitions. Such networks are being used to canvass support amid the mutinous atmosphere in the Conservative Party following the by-election defeats in Wellingborough and Kingswood.
Whether or not there is a cabal of Tory MPs and others working hard to install the Defence Secretary in No 10, I am confident that the majority of Conservative voters would greet the news with anger and bemusement.
For who is Grant Shapps anyway? The phrase ‘risen without trace’ might have been invented for a man who has held five Cabinet posts in fewer than five years. The main reason why successive Prime Ministers have entrusted one department after another to this jack of all trades is that he can be relied upon not to rock the boat.
Actually, rocking the boat might be just what the MoD needs: a root-and-branch reform to rid us of the bureaucratic complacency that has turned our once-proud Armed Forces into a laughing stock.
Grant Shapps was reported yesterday to be spending plenty of time on manoeuvres — but not of the military kind. Pictured: British soldiers, 4th Battalion The Rifles
But Mr Shapps has never shown the slightest initiative, originality or courage in any of his roles. He is a quick study and can master a brief, but he is better at politicking than politics and too lightweight to be a leader.
If the answer to the Conservatives’ woes is Grant Shapps, what on earth is the question?
As David Patrikarakos wrote in the Mail on Saturday, the war in Ukraine could be lost, with dire consequences for us, too. Many Americans under the influence of Donald Trump appear to be turning their backs on Nato.
This is a time not for decline management, but for statesmanship. To use a Churchillian phrase, it is time for ‘Action this day’. When Churchill was recalled to be first lord of the admiralty at the outbreak of war in 1939, the signal was sent to the fleet: ‘Winston is back.’
The signal ‘Grant is back’ may not elicit the same thrill of excitement, but the very least the public is entitled to expect is to see the Defence Secretary of the day hard at work at his desk in Whitehall during a time of global crisis.
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