'Hang your heads in SHAME!' Ex-Head of British Army takes aim at politicians for 'hollowing out defence'

Since RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus was targeted by an Iranian-made drone last Sunday, pressure has piled on the Prime Minister to hike Britain's defences and deploy defensive operations over on the island.

Five days later, two British AW159 Wildcat helicopters with anti-drone capabilities landed on the airbase of the holiday hotspot - while HMS Dragon, one of Britain's warships, was only due to arrive in the eastern Mediterranean this coming week.

Lord Dannatt told GB News: "This really just illustrates the dire state of our defence capability that, as we all know, for the last 30 odd years, since the end of the Cold War, successive Governments from all political parties have hollowed out defence.

"They've taken peace dividend after peace dividend. And now when you come to a serious issue, a crisis moment like this, the the risks have come home to roost.

"And the fact that we can't send just one of our Type 45 air defence destroyers on an important mission really speaks volumes.

"The current Government and the previous Government, they should hang their heads in shame.

"They've known the security threats both in the Middle East and particularly in Europe, and have have spoken words, but have not backed back those words up with deeds."

Back in January and later during his attendance at the Munich Security Conference, Sir Keir pledged moving defence spending to three per cent of GDP by the end of this Parliament.

But Lord Dannatt insisted there was no movement towards such a funding boost, adding: "There have been no steps taken by the Chancellor.

"It's just words. And frankly, words don't buy you the military capability that we need to deter further aggression and secure our own people and our own infrastructure and our land."

However, when questions about the state of Britain's defence were raised, Chief of the Defence Staff, Sir Richard Knighton, insisted the UK was not unprepared on Saturday morning.

He said: "For several weeks now, we've been bolstering our presence and the forces in the Middle East, particularly at Cyprus.

"And doing that in consultation with our regional partners, we've added additional typhoons, F-35s, over 400 people to help protect and defend the airspace around Cyprus.

"And even as late as Wednesday, Thursday before the war started, Donald Trump was talking about a peaceful resolution when the war started on Saturday.

"It became clear over the next 48 hours that Iran's response was going to be very much broader, wild and indiscriminate."

National Reporter Charlie Peters said the army boss's wording seems to imply the military did not expect a war to break out and admitted they were "ill-prepared" for the regional escalation.

Meanwhile, speaking at the party's Spring Conference in Harrogate on Saturday, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called for the resuscitation of the two-child benefit cap to free up funds to pour into defence.

The North West Essex MP claimed the welfare cut would fund the recruitment of some 20,000 troops.

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