Former RAF head and senior Tory MPs warn that UK must guarantee minimum defence spending

Former RAF head Sir Michael Graydon says David Cameron must commit to Nato minimum of 2 per cent of GDP for defence spending, a sentiment echoed by three senior Tory MPs running to be the chairman of the defence select committee.

The Conservative party manifesto did not include a pledge to meet the 2 per cent of GDP target, instead opting to postpone the decision until a spending review later in the year.

In a foreword to the latest UK National Defence Association report, Graydon wrote: “The Prime Minister has now an opportunity to do what he and the other major party leaders felt unable to do in this election campaign, namely to repair the damage done to our defence and security in recent years and to our reputation as a serious contributor to world security.

“He can start immediately, by endorsing the House of Commons defence committee report of 17 March this year – ‘Re-thinking defence to meet new threats’, and in a simple statement make good his commitment to the NATO minimum of 2 per cent of GDP. It is an opportunity which any prime minister who aspires to be remembered as a statesman should take.”

Julian Lewis, a senior Conservative MP and candidate to be the chairman of the defence select committee, shared Graydon’s concerns regarding defence spending. Lewis described the current spending as a “scandal”, condemning the fact that the UK is struggling to reach the 2 per cent minimum when it should be “exceeding it”.

Colonel Bob Stewart and Richard Benyon, two Tory MPs also running for the position of chairman, have also voiced concerns over the government’s failure to commit to a minimum spending target. Stewart warned that not meeting the target could damage Britain’s ‘special relationship’ with the US, while Benyon claims that Britain will not be prepared to address the threats it faces “without sticking to that figure”.