When Donald Trump announced with great bombast his plan for an American ‘Golden Dome’, he promised an all-encompassing shield that would neutralise all incoming aerial threats. It remains no more than a grand political concept. Yet Kemi Badenoch appears to be taking a leaf out of his book. The Conservative leader is proposing investment of up to £10 billion over ten years in an integrated air and missile defence system dubbed “Britannia Shield”.

Finland has put ideology aside and has acquired Israel’s David’s Sling system

Finland has put ideology aside and has acquired Israel’s David’s Sling system

Badenoch is entirely right to sound the alarm over the state of the UK’s defence. Britain is badly exposed. Though the Conservative party cannot escape blame after holding power for fifteen of the past seventeen years, the reality of the threat is undeniable.

Russia issued an explicit warning in August that Britain’s continued military support for Ukraine would carry grave consequences. The former Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Fedorov claimed Moscow has the “full right” to strike the UK because it supplies drones to Ukraine. Recent reports on a potential Iranian drone attack on aircraft and U.S. forces at the RAF Fairford air base and the attacks on Leipzig airport underscore the urgency of the need for Britain to counter the growing threat of long-range missile and drone attacks.

Labour’s plans to defend Britain from missile attack are woefully insufficient........

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