AS the Second World War was ending, Hitler was reported to have ordered non-existent troops into battle.

Keir Starmer is no Hitler, but he too appears somewhat deluded about the numbers and capabilities of his armed forces.

When an Iranian-made drone hit a British military base in Cyprus on March 1, Starmer ordered a British warship to sail to the island.

Ten days later, it finally got moving and it is scheduled to reach Cyprus in the next few days – two weeks after Starmer’s order.

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Legend has it that when Sir Francis Drake was told the Spanish Armada was in sight, he said he had time to finish his game of bowls before engaging with it.

Had the Iranians been told that Starmer was sending a single ship, they could have taken a fortnight’s holiday before expecting it.

Britain now apparently rues the waves, despite having ruled them for so long.

This effective collapse of its navy illustrates how Great Britain has become Second Rate Britain.

Even if public opinion had not prevented Starmer from directly entering Trump’s latest war, he would have been unable to make any meaningful military contribution to it.

Britain’s irrelevance on the world stage reflects its growing social and economic problems at home, where economic growth this year is predicted at a lowly 1.4%. Welcome to broken Britain.

A major problem with the British establishment is that it still believes it is an imperial power.

This delusion is based on those historical pillars of Britishness: the monarchy, political stability, industrial power and the military might to invade anywhere abroad. All are now in disgrace or terminal decline.

The monarchy is still there, but under unprecedented public pressure.

At the king’s coronation, a man was handcuffed and arrested for shouting “Who elected him?”

This week protesters faced the king with “Down With The Crown” placards, while shouting: “How do you feel about your brother being arrested?” The police took no action.

Like widespread adulation for royalty, political stability has also gone in Britain.

For over a century it has been a two-party state, but a succession of weak prime ministers and weaker cabinets from both parties ended that.

Today it is a seven-party state with Scottish and Welsh nationalists, the Greens, Lib Dems and Reform all competing with Labour and the Tories.

British politics has shown a lack of talent and political principle in recent years (think of Cameron, Johnson, Truss, May and Sunak – oh and Mandelson).

Keir Starmer was an artificial creation by Cork man Morgan Sweeney, who tried to turn a lawyer into a leader and ultimately failed.

Since taking office, Starmer has made 16 major policy u-turns, on issues such as the green economy, university tuition fees, workers’ rights and rail and water nationalisation.

He heads a parliament in which only 7% of MPs are considered working class, which may explain why Westminster is so divorced from the real world and why Labour is expected to perform badly in the forthcoming local elections.

In 1911, Britain was the world’s most industrialised country with almost 40% of its workforce engaged in mining and manufacturing. Today’s figure is 8.1%.

Margaret Thatcher contributed significantly to that by boosting the financial services sector in London and allowing manufacturing to decline in the rest of the country. Today 83% of employees work in the service sector.

The Times last week complained that the Royal Navy is now at its smallest since the English Civil War (1652-51).

It is reported as having more admirals (41) than active warships (20-25). In 1950, Britain had 280 frigates and destroyers. Today it has 13.

It has two different aircraft carriers. The difference is that one has technical problems and the other does not work.

The British army’s latest armoured vehicle cost £6.3 billion to develop, but training on it was halted last year because of excessive noise and vibration causing illness among crews.

In 1989 the British army had 156,000 soldiers. Today it can barely muster 70,000.

So Starmer’s contribution to the war has been to allow US planes to refuel at RAF bases on their way to bomb Iran.

That makes Britain just a US aircraft carrier, moored off the coast of Europe.

The loss of its military might is no bad thing, but its economic decline will be reflected in its financial commitment to this corner of Ireland.

Britain may be a sinking ship, but the bad news is that we are among its passengers.

It might be time to start looking for a life boat.

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