CONTENTS

politics first | Corridors
Stepping up to maintain
the UK’s global responsibilities
Michael Fallon, Secretary of State for Defence and Conservative MP
for Sevenoaks
The new political season, ushered in by the Party
Conferences, will see UK defence confront deepening
challenges in a darkening world. We are witnessing an
arc of instability spreading across the globe. We have
seen terrorist atrocities across the globe, in places as
far apart as Orlando and Brussels, Paris and Ankara,
Baghdad and Munich.
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Daesh continues to kill, bomb and
brutalise in both Iraq and Syria, and
continues to plan attacks in Western Europe.
Russia persists in fomenting insurgency in
Ukraine and in trying to destabilise its NATO
neighbours. Last year’s conference seems a
lifetime away.
Despite that darkening outlook, Britain
is determined to maintain its global
responsibilities. Brexit will not change our
commitment to the international rulesbased
system. Far from stepping back, we
are stepping up. Three months on from the
European Union vote, we are doing more in
the world, not less. At the Farnborough Air
Show, where the Lightning II Strike Fighter
made its dazzling debut, I announced more
multi-billion pound investments in attack
helicopters and maritime patrol aircraft.
In Warsaw, at the NATO summit, the UK
committed 500 troops to Estonia to defend
NATO’s eastern flank and pledged to
continue transforming the Alliance to meet
the challenges both from East and the South.
And in Washington, at the Counter-Daesh
conference, we agreed to press home our
advantage against Daesh – who are now on
the back foot having lost around 40 per cent
of the territory they once held.
Nowhere has our determination to
continue leading on international security
been more in evidence than in the House
of Commons itself. This July, the new
Prime Minister led the debate to renew
our independent nuclear deterrent. After
the speeches ended, politicians from all
parties came together to vote by 472 to 117
in favour of renewal – an increase of more
than 100 since Parliament last voted on our
commitment almost a decade ago. At a time
when Russia is upgrading its nuclear forces,
increasing the frequency of its snap nuclear
exercises and threatening to base nuclear
forces in the Crimea and in Kaliningrad, the
protection offered by our deterrent has never
been more essential. And with rogue states
like North Korea testing nuclear weapons, we
cannot be sure what threats will emerge in
the future.
We are now starting to build the next
generation of nuclear submarines. Coming
into service in the early 2030s, they will see
us through to the 2060s, and help us deter
the most extreme threats to our way of life.
And our deterrent is not just vital for the
safety of our own citizens but for those of our
allies, too. The UK, together with France and
the US, provides NATO’s nuclear umbrella –
the ultimate protection for all 28 members.
Three separate centres of decision-making
that complicate the calculations of any
potential adversary and make a nuclear attack
less likely.
So Britain will continue to keep our
people safe at home and work with our
Allies and partners to reinforce our security
abroad. Last year, some 80,000 soldiers
deployed on more than 383 commitments.
More than 30,000 sailors deployed, on over
700 ship visits, from Africa to Asia, Europe to
Latin America. And more than 10,000 Royal
Air Force personnel deployed, in over 60
countries, on operations, training exercises
and defence engagement. This year our
personnel are matching that effort, striking
at the terrorists, providing humanitarian aid,
and training troops around the globe.
They do that backed by a defence
budget that will rise every year until the
end of the decade, with a £178 billion
plan to provide them with the equipment
they need to keep Britain safe. Those are
important ways in which we, as politicians,
can support them. Ultimately though, it
is the bravery, dedication and excellence
of those men and women that will ensure
that Britain remains strong and safe. That
is something we know we can rely on,
whatever the next 12 months brings.