FORMER British military chiefs have told the Starmer-led Labour government that it, as the government of the UK, ‘must’ consider conscription ‘now’ before it is ‘too late’ to boost the UK’s military readiness for war with Russia.
The former UK defence chiefs are urging the British government to bring back conscription so the UK has enough ‘cannon fodder’ ready for their projected war with Russia, and to bolster military readiness in response to what they called the growing threat from Russia, the Sun newspaper reported last Wednesday.
In fact, leading military figures such as Sir Richard Shirreff, former NATO Deputy Supreme Allied Commander of Europe, and Colonel Hamish De Bretton Gordon have expressed concerns that the UK’s current army size of approximately 70,000 active troops is insufficient to deter potential ‘Russian aggression’. They are advocating ‘selective conscription’ of working class youth to provide the necessary cannon fodder to bolster NATO’s eastern defences, and as well as preparing for possible conflicts with Iran and the oil-rich Arab states.
Shirreff is adamant: ‘The government should rule nothing out at the moment. I can’t see how an army of just 70,000 is going to be able to deter Russia in the long term and maintain the mass it needs,’ Shirreff said.
He added: ‘If you look at the size of our regular army, it’s tiny, and they’d find it difficult to deploy a brigade for any period of time.’ He wants to use British youth as cannon fodder, declaring: ‘You need mass, and you achieve mass through alliance and through creating larger forces, but you’ve also got to build up your own army.’
Shirreff’s call to arms comes after Poland and Latvia have reinstated conscription to ‘strengthen their defences’ against Russia, while UK Labour government officials, including Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat MacFadden, have stressed that London is ‘not considering’ introducing conscription.
This position has made the ‘defence experts’ very angry. They insist that Labour should rule ‘nothing out at the moment’, and that without increasing troop numbers and modernising military equipment, the UK may be vulnerable in future conflicts.
Colonel Hamish De Bretton Gordon warned: ‘Militarily, Britain needs to look at all the options as have been described. We are not in a position at the moment to fight a ground war.’
He added: ‘There’s no way we’ll avoid conscription unless we surrender, and I don’t think anybody in this country is going to surrender without a fight, especially to Putin.’
Veteran Air Marshal Greg Bagwell, who served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) for 36 years, also said that he believed the UK’s military requires an additional 26,000 personnel across all branches, cautioning that the current force of 130,000 is insufficient for a strong defence.
‘There are 70,000 in the Army and 30,000 (each) in the Navy and RAF and you might think that’s not bad to have 130,000. But they’re not all going to be on the front line, they’re not all going to be in planes or ships,’ the airman said.
Already, UK’s Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he is prepared to send troops to Ukraine as part of a peace deal.
The UK is conducting a Strategic Defence Review, led by former NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson, to assess and update defence policies, aiming to address possible challenges from countries like Russia and China.
Early this month, former British Tory defence secretary Penny Mordaunt also warned: ‘What we lack is the political will. We need to wake up and recognise if we fail to bolster defence we will pay a terrible price.’
The reality is that leaders such as President Trump and PM Starmer are determined to redivide the planet, while Trump has openly claimed areas such as Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal.
It is time for the workers of the world to get organised and build sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International in every country, to lead the struggle to get rid of bankrupt capitalism and replace it with the World Socialist Republic! Bankrupt world capitalism is in its death agony – it is high time that the workers of the world buried it!
