Boost defence spending to prepare for Putin, Wallace demands

Ben Wallace is giving a speech this afternoon in which he will urge Boris Johnson to increase defence spending. The Defence Secretary – who has long been close to Johnson – is making his campaign public, having apparently already secured a nod from the Prime Minister that he will get something. He wants a 20 per cent increase in defence spending in the next five years, and to push Britain’s budget for its armed forces up to 2.5 per cent of GDP, having secured the 2 per cent target. He is speaking at the Royal United Services Institute event alongside the chief of the general staff General Sir Patrick Sanders, who is, naturally, arguing that spending should rise because ‘this is our 1937 moment’ and the army needs to prepare to fight Vladimir Putin directly.

What is less clear is how supportive the Treasury is, particularly given Rishi Sunak spends most cabinet meetings talking about the value of fiscal restraint.