Former Labour leadership candidate Chuka Umunna has challenged party leader Jeremy Corbyn to increase their party’s commitment to NATO and dramatically increase defence spending.
A prominent moderate and active “Remain” campaigner during the Brexit referendum, Umunna resigned as Shadow Business Secretary after the election of Corbyn as leader in 2015, accusing Corbyn of having made only a half-hearted effort to resist Brexit.
Umunna still agitates as a backbench MP for a firmer line against Brexit than Corbyn has adopted, and in a foreign policy address to the Chatham House think tank he has highlighted another line of tension with Corbyn and his Left-wing colleagues by declaring that Labour must take a clearer stand on nuclear weapons, be more outspoken in its support for NATO and massively increase its planned military spending.
All three defence issues put him at odds with Corbyn, who has been guarded in his support for NATO and buffeted by party divisions over his personal opposition to nuclear weapons.
Having previously called for cuts in military funding, Corbyn pledged in the run-up to this year’s general election to match the Conservative Government’s commitment to spending 2% of GDP on defence but Umunna said Labour has to go much further.
Huge Extra Spending
“This Government is not spending enough to meet the risks, threats, nor the opportunities identified in its own National Defence and Security Strategy,” Umunna said.
“We are a big country but sometimes we can act and behave as if we are small. One of the priorities for a Labour Government must be a Strategic Defence and Security Review to give the electorate, our allies and our potential enemies a clear message of our intent and purpose.”
“Our spending commitment should rise above NATO’s 2% of GDP, lifting it incrementally to 2.5% over a five-year period. This will allow us to maintain our conventional forces at an adequate level. Being clear about our commitment to our independent nuclear deterrent is important.”
Corbyn has accused NATO of stoking tensions on the border with Russia but Umunna said during questions after his speech that Labour must renew its commitment to the West’s most important alliance.
“Don’t underestimate the importance of our role in NATO,” he said. ““There are consequences of not acting as much as there are consequences of acting. I think actually more of my party than you would think, frankly if they are honest about it, are pacifists – I totally respect that position – and not always that keen on taking action. But there are consequences if you don’t take action.”
Umunna referred to a 2015 dispute within the Labour Party in which Corbyn and others opposed support for military action in Syria.
“Back NATO”
“There was a conversation in the Labour Party – in my own local party, frankly – which tended to suggest that if we didn’t act there wouldn’t be consequences, when we knew, for example, that terror attacks on London were being prepared and coordinated from Raqqa,” the Labour MP said.
He welcomed “the fact that the tone towards NATO by (Labour’s) the leadership has changed over time”.
Ummuna said Labour had an important tradition of being an active leader of NATO rather than a reluctant member, noting that Britain had a Labour Govenrment when NATO was founded in 1949.
“People in my Party forget that Foreign Secretary Bevin was the driving force behind NATO. In 1948 he set out a British Foreign Policy which would appeal to the ‘broad masses of workers’. Bevin and Attlee gave Labour a creed of progressive patriotism. It was a belief in a robust national defence married to a passionate commitment to social justice. At home, the interest of working people was the national interest, and it stood for a balance of power between capital and labour.
“Abroad, Labour sought cooperation amongst the democratic nations, free trade unions and national self-determination for Britain’s former colonies. This is the creed that established NATO to defend our democracy against the Soviet Union and other threats. Our history dictates that we are not a party of inaction on the world stage.
“The creed of Attlee and Bevin informs Labour’s values and we will use it to remake Britain’s role in the world once again.”
“We must provide credible deterrents that convince Russia NATO is committed to Europe’s collective defence. And by increasing our commitment to NATO we are more likely to keep the United States engaged in Europe”
by Peter Wilson
The post Politics: Umunna Tells Corbyn to Boost Defence appeared first on Felix Magazine.
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