Ethical investors have weakened the West’s defences

It won’t be the first, or indeed the most serious, casualty of the war in Ukraine. It probably won’t be the second, third or even fourth. Even so when the final reckoning of the Russian onslaught is tallied up, there can be no question that the ESG – environmental, social and governance – will be on the list. Why? Because its self-righteous concentration on progressive causes like race and gender, and crucially its wishy-washy pacifism, have undermined the West’s ability to defend itself.

Rewind just a few weeks and much of the City was obsessing over ESG issues. Fund managers were harassing the oil companies to stop developing domestic supplies of gas, even though our failure to do so has increased our dependence on Russia. And critically, they were demonising defence companies on the basis that making weapons was immoral or wrong. Many