UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer taunted Kemi Badenoch during the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons, suggesting she has positioned herself as the “saviour of western civilisation.”
Gatekeepers News reports that in a significant policy announcement, Starmer revealed plans to reallocate aid funds to increase military spending to 2.5 percent of the UK’s GDP by 2027, which would equate to approximately £13.4 billion. This announcement precedes his upcoming meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington.
The Prime Minister indicated that this increase in defense spending aligns with US-led discussions regarding the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. As part of this budget adjustment, he also noted that the UK’s aid budget would be reduced from 0.5 percent of gross national income to 0.3 percent by 2027 to ensure the defense investment is fully financed.
However, Badenoch, leader of the UK’s Conservative Party, questioned Starmer over the exact amount, which John Healey, defence secretary, said could be calculated as £6 billion when inflation is factored in.
She also asked if any of the new funding would be going to the multi-billion pound Chagos island deal.
Starmer responded by saying the increase in defence spending that was announced was for “our capability on defence and security in Europe”, adding that “the Chagos deal is extremely important for our security and for US security”.
“If you take the numbers for this financial year and then the numbers for the financial year 2027-28, that’s a £13.4bn increase,” he said.
“That’s the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War which will put us in a position to ensure the security and defence of our country and of Europe.”
When Badenoch suggested that the prime minister had listened to her advice on using international aid money for defence, Starmer said: “I’m going to have to let the leader of the opposition down gently. She didn’t feature in my thinking at all.
“I was so busy over the weekend I didn’t even see her proposal.
“She has appointed herself saviour of the western civilisation in a desperate search for relevance.”
