Second World War veteran, 104, tells Starmer: 'Spend more money on defence now', amid Russia threat

6 May 2025, 20:41 | Updated: 7 May 2025, 06:09

RAF veteran Colin Bell speaks to Iain Dale

A 104-year-old Second World War veteran has urged Sir Keir Starmer to spend more money on defence amid a growing threat from Russia.

Colin Bell, who flew a Mosquito bomber plane and carried out 50 bombing raids over Germany during the war, told LBC's Iain Dale that Western countries "need to [spend more] now - not when we can afford it."

The government set out plans in February to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 - but some onlookers have said they should go further.

It came after Donald Trump's administration said that other NATO governments should take more responsibility for their own security, and signalled a willingness to form closer ties to Russia.

But calls for Britain to hike defence spending come against the backdrop of squeezed government finances. To raise military outlays, the government has already cut foreign aid spending.

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Mr Bell said he thought Britain was in "a very perilous position".

He added: "Ever since the end of World War Two, the country has been under the protection of the American umbrella - it looks as if that American umbrella could be withdrawn."

Mr Bell said his analysis of the situation was that Mr Trump wants to "attract the Russians back into the fold", and "draw them away from China, North Korea, and Iran".

He claimed that Joe Biden's policies, although they may have been "morally" correct, "had the effect of driving the Russians into the arms of these despotic regimes."

But Mr Bell also questioned how Mr Trump could support NATO and want to work with Russia at the same time.

"It’s very difficult," he said.

"The answer clearly is that the West has got to spend a lot more money on its defence - and it needs to do it now.

"Not in two or three years time when we can afford it; it needs to be done now."

Mr Bell, who was born in 1921, earned a Distinguished Flying Cross during the war.

After flying his 50 bombing raids in Germany, 13 of which were over Berlin, he moved onto 'ferry work', bringing newly built planes from Canada to the UK.

After he left the RAF in 1946, he launched a career as a chartered surveyor, married and had a family.