Sir Keir Starmer, has described his long-delayed Defence Investment Plan (DIP) as “a huge, historic shift for our nation – and a legacy in which I take pride”.
It is a curious sort of memorial for his brief premiership. Even on the most generous assumptions of what constitutes defence spending (such as including pensions for the armed forces), the planned spending rise to 4.2 per cent on national income by 2035 is still below the 5 per cent target set by Nato – and demanded by Donald Trump last year.
