In 2023 – 24 the UK spent £53.9 billion on “defence”. That was 2.3% of GDP.

Keir Starmer today bent the knee even further to the United States by pledging to more than double that to 5% by 2035. An additional 2.7% of GDP.

That amounts to an additonal £63.3 billion, to make a grand total of £117.2 billion.

Assuming some GDP growth that will be even more in 2035 money.

The obvious question here is, who, and what, is going to pay for this morbid exchange of tissue in our economy if it is not resisted? £63.4 billion every year.

The word “defence” is in inverted commas throughout this blog because, as the “Defence Review” points out “you can’t do defence on the goal line”. In other words, “defence” for the Uk means fighting wars in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya or, with a certain amount of plausible deniability, Ukraine and Gaza.