Who is General Gwyn Jenkins, the UK’s national security adviser?

The Prime Minister’s announcement this week of an increase in UK defence spending from 2 per cent to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030 was unexpected. Debate continues on whether this is indeed, as Sunak claimed in Poland, ‘historic’, or sufficient for the UK to ‘re-arm’ in the face of ‘real risks to the United Kingdom’s security and prosperity’. All this overshadowed a significant government appointment: for the first time, a serving senior military officer is to be the UK’s national security adviser (NSA).

In the summer, General Gwyn Jenkins, currently serving as the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, will become the UK’s 7^th adviser on national security to the prime minister since the post was created by David Cameron in 2010. Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, said on X that Jenkins would bring ‘rigour and… drive to a vital role’. This current government likes to view security through a harder, more realist lens than its predecessors, to the dismay of some – Jenkins’s appointment reflects that.