Commons Defence Select Committee chairman Tobias Ellwood tells Times Radio…

“We’re going to be taunted, we’re going to be teased in this way. And ultimately, we’re being tested as to where our own red lines are. And I’m really quite frustrated with the way the West has actually been so risk averse and almost timid, and playing into Putin’s hands. We keep referencing World War Three to justify any dismissal of tactical options. The best example was the gifting of Polish MiGs via the United States to the Ukrainian Air Forces. It exudes weakness, it really shows a lack of confidence and an absence, I’m afraid, of those Cold War state-craft skills that illustrate that we have a grasp of the escalatory ladder. We absolutely need to be concerned as to where each event, where each incident, where each action we take may take us but ultimately when we speak of escalation, it won’t be from our side, it will probably be from Putin, and he’s likely to take us there anyway.”