UK safe ‘for now and next few years’, says outgoing military chief

The UK’s national security is safe “for now and for the next few years”, the outgoing head of the British armed forces has told the BBC.

Adm Sir Tony Radakin said his optimism on defence came from the UK being a nuclear power and a member of Nato, which he described as “the biggest and strongest gun club ever”, and that its closest ally is the US.

Sir Tony was Chief of the Defence Staff from November 2021 until he retired on Tuesday.

In a wide-ranging interview for BBC Radio 4’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson, Sir Tony said the group of Western allies coming together as the “coalition of the willing” to discuss post-war Ukraine is “bigger than Russia and Ukraine”.

“It’s much more about European security, this adjustment with America, the reassurance to America that Europe is taking more responsibility for its security. The energising of Europe,” Sir Tony said.

He praised former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his top ministers for their response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, comparing it to the response to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea eight years earlier.

“Were we going to do another Crimea and look the other way, or were we actually going to respond and support Ukraine?

“And Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Ben Wallace, both philosophically, practically and politically were really clear that the role of the UK for this particular illegal invasion was to support Ukraine. And I’ve been fortunate. I’ve had four prime ministers. Each has taken that position,” he said.

Sir Tony said the war has been a “disaster” for Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding: “If a snail had left Rostov-on-Don in Russia on 24 February 2022, by now it would have crossed all the way through Ukraine and it would be halfway through Poland. That’s how difficult Russia is finding it.”

Reacting to pictures of world leaders visiting President Xi Jinping in China from earlier this week where a huge military parade took place, he urged “scepticism” against arguments that a new non-Nato “axis” was forming.

“It’s a military parade. But for nations to come together and to be prepared to fight together and to support each other, it’s much more substantial than a big parade.

“These are not countries that have a history together, that have a mutual trust, that will support each other when it comes to war fighting,” he said.

You can listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds, on this week’s episode of Political Thinking with Nick Robinson