Starmer contemplating sending army to Greenland as Trump ratchets up rhetoric | EUROtoday

Sir Keir Starmer is contemplating sending British troops to Greenland as Donald Trump’s rhetoric over snatching the Danish territory continues to ratchet up.

It comes simply days after the prime minister dedicated to sending troops into Ukraine because the core of the coalition of the prepared to ensure the peace, with former senior army high brass questioning whether or not the UK has sufficient personnel.

The revelation comes after former Obama assistant secretary of state Frank Rose advised The Independent that Mr Trump’s actions threaten to undermine US defence within the area and result in allies turning on him.

President Trump has insisted he needs management over Greenland and has not dominated out the prospect of utilizing army drive to grab the semi-autonomous Danish territory.

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander insisted that discussions about securing the High North in opposition to Russia and China have been a part of Nato’s “business as usual” slightly than a response to the US army menace.

Tory chief Kemi Badenoch lambasted the discussions, warning that there’s a hazard the Nato alliance might collapse and arguing that Greenland is a “second-order issue”.

She advised the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg: “Right now, what I am really concerned about is if there is going to be a Nato. We need to keep America on side.”

Meanwhile, former UK ambassador to the US Lord Peter Mandelson insisted that he doesn’t consider Mr Trump will ship US troops to take management of Greenland, accusing critics of the US president of “wanting to clutch at their pearls” slightly than face actuality. However, the Labour peer was additionally vital of the prime minister, who sacked him as ambassador, for not producing the promised spending enhance on defence.

The Telegraph reported that army chiefs are drawing up plans for a attainable Nato mission to Greenland, which might contain British troopers, warships and planes being deployed to the island.

Ms Alexander downplayed the suggestion, telling Ms Kuenssberg the report “possibly reads something more into business as usual discussions amongst Nato allies than there actually are”.

She stated the UK agreed with President Trump that the Arctic Circle “is becoming an increasingly contested part of the world with the ambitions of [Vladimir] Putin and China”.

“Whilst we haven’t seen the appalling consequences in that part of the world that we’ve seen in Ukraine, it is really important that we do everything that we can with all of our Nato allies to ensure that we have an effective deterrent in that part of the globe against Putin.”

Mr Trump has stated he needs to get management over Greenland, which has a strategic location and pure assets, and “if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way”.

But Lord Mandelson stated he didn’t consider Mr Trump would use the army in opposition to a Nato ally.

“President Trump is not going to land on Greenland, take Greenland by force,” he stated. “He’s not a fool. What’s going to happen is there’s going to be a lot of discussion, a lot of consultation, a lot of negotiation and at the end of the day, we are all going to have to wake up to the reality that the Arctic needs securing against China and Russia.

“And if you ask me who is going to lead in that effort to secure, we all know, don’t we, that it’s going to be the United States.”

He argued that Mr Trump “believes we live in a world of conflicts and hard power… and sometimes nettles need to be grasped. We have to understand that.”

He was additionally vital of Sir Keir over not matching his dedication with promised will increase in defence spending.

“I’m sorry, but the money’s got to follow,” he stated. “I think the principle [of extra defence spending] is accepted. I think that the funding is embraced, but I haven’t seen the financial plans. Not for the future, not in the way that they need to build up and unfold in the years to come.”

Downing Street sources famous that the prime minister shares President Trump’s view that Russia’s rising aggression within the High North have to be deterred, and Euro-Atlantic safety strengthened, and the UK takes the threats from Russia and China within the area “extremely seriously”.

They confirmed that “Nato discussions on reinforcing security in the region continue and we would never get ahead of those, but the UK is working with Nato allies to drive efforts to bolster Arctic deterrence and defence”.

Just final 12 months, UK commandos took half in Exercise Joint Viking in Norway – one in all Nato’s greatest High North drills in sub-zero temperatures– alongside 7,000 allied troops, Royal Navy patrol boats and RFA Lyme Bay.

This 12 months, 1,500 Royal Marines will deploy for Exercise Cold Response throughout Norway, Finland and Sweden, coaching with allies to defend key terrain and display Nato unity.

But within the final week, senior retired army high brass have warned that the UK is overstretched even with Sir Keir’s dedication to Ukraine.

In a report for Policy Exchange, retired air marshal Edward Stringer warned that elevated defence spending within the UK is being “eaten up by the Ministry of Defence [MoD]’s overdraft” with the UK’s army footprint shrinking at a vital second.

His report, entitled “The Say-Do Gaps in Defence”, notes that the British military now has simply 14 howitzers in whole; the Royal Navy has been unable to place multiple assault submarine to sea for some time; and the RAF needed to ship coaching unit pilots to sea to ensure certification of the F35 Force on the service.

Meanwhile, one other Policy Exchange report earlier within the week from one other retired air marshal, Lord Stirrup, outlined how the UK had change into too reliant on possessing nuclear weapons for deterrence, which he warned was not scaring Vladimir Putin.

It got here as Sir Richard Shirreff, who served as Nato’s deputy supreme allied commander in Europe between 2011 and 2014, stated allied forces would wish not less than 50,000 troops in Ukraine to discourage an assault from Russia, whereas the military at the moment has lower than 75,000 personnel.