US worried over UK defence budget

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted in her interview for the BBC that Washington is worried over the scale of the UK coalition government’s planned spending cuts on defence.

The US Secretary of State has made this declaration ahead of the British government’s report to be published early next week.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted in her interview for the BBC that Washington is worried over the scale of the UK coalition government’s planned spending cuts on defence.

The US Secretary of State has made this declaration ahead of the British government’s report to be published early next week. In all probability, the Ministry of Defence budget, which was to be 37 billion pounds in the period of 2011 to 2015, will be curtailed by approximately 10%.

However, leading British military figures insist that the UK’s defensive capabilities must be maintained. Defence Secretary Liam Fox is one of them. In September his letter to Prime-Minister David Cameron was leaked to the British press and caused a major scandal. In the letter he warns the Prime-Minister against imposing “draconian” cuts during a time when the UK is at war in Afghanistan. Liam Fox confirmed his concern about defence spending reductions in his speech at the Conservative Party annual conference in Birmingham early in October.

Liam Fox’s attitude as a Defence Secretary is understandable. It would be strange if a Minister of Defence stood for substantial cutbacks in financing his ministry.

Moreover, the British Defence Secretary was “strongly encouraged” in the USA, where he went last month and met his US counterpart Robert Gates.

The US Minister of Defence had a serious conversation with Liam Fox and warned him that substantial cuts in the British defence budget could strain the special relationship between the two countries. As follows from Mrs. Clinton’s latest opinions, the USA continues to wring its junior partner’s arms and Washington will not put up with London curtailing its military expenditure.

Apparently, the White House is not happy that the new British government refuses to go along with US international priorities and tries to pursue an independent policy. Observe, that until now the UK has kept its commitments to its NATO partners and spent not less than 2% of its GDP on defence. But as a result of cutbacks, the share of military spending may drop to 1.7%, which worries Washington most of all.

British Prime-Minister David Cameron says any fears over the UK’s defence capabilities and its contribution to NATO are unfounded. Almost immediately after the US Secretary of State’s speech in Brussels, Downing Street hurried to reassure Washington.

A spokeswoman of the British Prime-Minister said: “Hillary Clinton is absolutely right when she says that each country has to be able to make its appropriate contribution to common defence in NATO and Britain will always do that”. Time will tell if these reassurances of official London set the US heart at rest.