Starmer has committed to a Commons vote prior to any deployment of British troops to Ukraine as part of the agreed political statement yesterday. The troops would serve as a deterrent after a ceasefire…
“I will be clear with the House that there would only be deployment after a ceasefire. It would be to support Ukraine’s capabilities. It would be to conduct deterrence operations and to construct and protect military hubs. The number the number will be determined in accordance with our military plans which we are drawing up and looking to other members to support. So the number I will put before the House before we were to deploy. But I’ll do more than that if we went as far as a legal instrument to deploy, which would be necessary. I would then have a debate in this house so all members could know exactly what we’re doing, make their points of view, and and then we would have a vote in this House on the issue, which to my mind is the proper procedure in a situation such as this.”
No detail on the number of troops who would be sent out. The PM said “of course I will speak to President Trump.” At some point…
Badenoch pressed Starmer on when Britain would actually spend 3% of GDP on defence. No answer again:
“We have increased the defence spend… that means better kit, better housing… that does compare to their record.”
It’s a hard power world…
Speaking about the Metropolitan Police, Nigel Farage told a press conference in London:
“Giuliani didn’t abolish the NYPD. He changed the leadership. He put those into positions of authority that shared his vision of the broken windows theory of dealing with crime from the bottom up. That’s what you have to do. So, I would suggest that rather than scrapping it, we need to find the right people in the right position.”