The West is coming apart - Britain’s defence review ignores the real crisis
The UK has a unique and powerful role to play between Europe and the United States.
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The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) is based around resourcing capabilities. And while discussions of nuclear-carrying F-35As, undersea cable protection, new submarines, army recruitment and housing are essential to the Strategic Defence Review’s purpose, there is a broader set of questions related to the role of the United Kingdom (UK) within a changing security landscape that tests the assumptions upon which the SDR rests.
From Vice President JD Vance’s remarks at the 2025 Munich Conference onward, there has been a slow-burning fissure in the US relationship with Europe. While the media on both sides of the Atlantic have painted this as a result of the shift in Washington, the fact is that the last decade has been one of momentous social change inside the West writ large. While the US has been a source for much of this “progressive” change, it has also borne the counter-reaction. These facts highlight the importance of the UK’s unique position.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s invitation to Ukraine’s beleaguered President Zelenskyy after the White House meeting was an incredible moment of statesmanship as it coordinated with European leaders while simultaneously avoiding offence to Washington. It was a masterful display of British diplomacy and tact. It is also an indicator that the “bridging” role that the UK has historically played between Europe and the United States is required now more than ever to maintain the unity of the Transatlantic Alliance.
Why does this matter to the SDR? It matters because the post-Munich tensions have yet to abate. Historically, the relationship has been bound by common values and common interests. Common interests remain and arguably are more vital. While it is true that Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defence, has reinforced the new normal —that Europeans should concentrate on European security (i.e., Russia) — at the recent Shangri-La Defence Conference in Singapore, he did not mean that the Transatlantic alliance should be torn asunder.
As we ponder the future of the Transatlantic Alliance, it is clear that the UK has a unique role to lead a European security renaissance from within NATO. It can remain central to Brussels and Washington, at the defence industrial and at the strategic level. As it negotiates a post-Brexit rapprochement with the EU, it must simultaneously bolster NATO's defence industry since this is the proven security architecture. And it must seek the middle ground in every transatlantic crisis, and draw the two together to best manage the next phase in Western relations. With the CRINK powers not only challenging the prevailing international order but also offering an explicitly authoritarian vision, the UK has a unique and powerful role to play between Europe and the United States. To fail to play that role will be to invite disaster upon us all.
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Dr John Hemmings is Deputy Director (Geopolitics) at the Council on Geostrategy.
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