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A warning from the head of the British Army that the UK would not be prepared in the event of a war should be “listened to carefully”, a former defence minister has said.

Tobias Ellwood told Sky News there was a “1939 feel to the world” and that Britain was not equipped to deal with “what is coming over the horizon”.

He was responding to a report in The Daily Telegraph, which said that later on Wednesday, General Sir Patrick Sanders was due to give a speech warning the British public would have to be called up to fight if the UK goes to war because the military is too small.

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Mr Ellwood, who has served alongside General Sir Patrick, said he was “one of the most cerebral thinkers that we’ve got” and a “strategist”.

“We need to listen and listen carefully, we’ve been too complacent,” Mr Ellwood said.

“What’s coming over the horizon should shock us. It should worry us and we are not prepared.”

The MP for Bournemouth East said that following decades of post-Cold War peace there was a growing sense authoritarian states could “exploit our timidity, perhaps our reluctance to really put fires out” – pointing to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“So Patrick Sanders is saying prepare for what’s coming over the horizon – there is a 1939 feel to the world right now,” he said. “These authoritarian states are rearming.

“There’s a risk averseness about the West in wanting to deal with that and our global institutions such as the United Nations aren’t able to hold these errant nations to account.”

According to The Daily Telegraph, General Sir Patrick would not support conscription but wants the government to “mobilise the nation” in the event of war with Russia.

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British Army numbers to be ‘73,000’

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He has previously been outspoken about the need to rebuild the UK’s warfighting capability in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine, saying Britain’s combat power has been hollowed out by consecutive governments since the end of the Cold War.

The Ministry of Defence declined to comment, but earlier this week, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps denied the size of the army was “shrinking” and said under the Conservatives, it would not dip below the current level of around 73,000.

However, Mr Ellwood said he agreed with General Sir Patrick that the army is “overstretched”, in part because of issues to do with pay and accommodation.

He said the army, as well as the navy, is about “half the size of what it should be” while the RAF is lacking the equipment it needs.

“In the Cold War, we had 36 fast jet squadrons, we’re down to about six today. And that’s just an illustration of just how small our armed forces are,” he said.

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Will defence spending hit 2.5%?

The senior MP said the defence budget needed to be upped from its current level of 2% of GDP to at least 3%.

The government’s target is 2.5%, but Mr Shapps told Sky News on Sunday that “we’re not there yet”.

Mr Ellwood said that during the Cold War, defence spending “was about 4%”.

He added: “Our world is no longer at peace. We’re moving to a world at war. Britain absolutely has a role to play, but we need to upgrade our defence posture.”

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Starmer ran the gauntlet with Trump but just about emerged intact

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Starmer ran the gauntlet with Trump but just about emerged intact

When TV cameras are let in to film world leaders meeting in person, the resulting footage is usually incredibly boring for journalists and incredibly safe for politicians.

Not with Donald Trump.

Sir Keir Starmer ran the gauntlet on Monday.

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Put through a total of almost 90 minutes of televised questioning alongside the American leader, it was his diciest encounter with the president yet.

But he still just about emerged intact.

For a start, he can claim substantive policy wins after Trump announced extra pressure on Vladimir Putin to negotiate a ceasefire and dialled up the concern over the devastating scenes coming from Gaza.

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There were awkward moments aplenty though.

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Trump calls London mayor a ‘nasty person’

Top of the list is Mr Trump’s trashing of the prime minister’s Labour colleague, London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan.

But more important than that, Monday’s meeting was the clearest representation of the political gulf that separates the two leaders.

“He’s slightly more liberal than me,” Mr Trump said of Sir Keir when he arrived in Scotland.

What an understatement.

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U.S. President Donald Trump meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Trump Turnberry golf club on July 28, 2025 in Turnberry, Scotland, Britain. Christopher Furlong/Pool via REUTERS
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The two leaders held talks in front of the media. Pic: Reuters

On green energy, immigration, taxation and online regulation, the differences were clear to see.

Sir Keir just about managed to paper over the cracks by chuckling at times, choosing his interventions carefully and always attempting to sound eminently reasonable.

At times, it had the energy of a man being forced to grin and bear inappropriate comments from his in-laws at an important family dinner.

But hey, it stopped a full Trump implosion – so I suppose that’s a win.

My main takeaway from this Scotland visit though is not so much the political gulf present between the two men, but the gulf in power.

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Trump gives Putin new deadline to end war

Sir Keir flew the length of the country he leads to be the guest at the visiting president’s resort.

He was then forced to sit through more than an hour of uncontrolled, freewheeling questioning from a man most of his party and voters despise, during which he was offered unsolicited advice on how to beat Nigel Farage and criticised (albeit indirectly) on key planks of his government’s policy platform.

In return he got warm words about him (and his wife) and relatively incremental announcements on two foreign policy priorities.

So why does he do it?

Because, to borrow a quote from a popular American political TV series: “Air Force One is a big plane and it makes a hell of a noise when it lands on your head.”

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Big brands are sleepwalking when it comes to stablecoins

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Big brands are sleepwalking when it comes to stablecoins

Big brands are sleepwalking when it comes to stablecoins

With Amazon and Walmart exploring stablecoins, institutions may be underestimating potential exposure of customer data on blockchains, posing risks to privacy and brand trust.

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ECB adviser doubts digital euro can match US dollar stablecoins

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ECB adviser doubts digital euro can match US dollar stablecoins

ECB adviser doubts digital euro can match US dollar stablecoins

The European Central Bank may rely on regulated euro stablecoins and private innovation to counter the dominance of US dollar stablecoins, says adviser Jürgen Schaaf.

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