23 April 2024 , 15:06
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Tetchy Rishi Sunak stepped in to stop the head of NATO from saying what will happen if the Tories lose the general election.
The PM, speaking at a military base in Poland, refused to allow Jens Stoltenberg answer a question about his expected defeat later this year, claiming it wouldn't be appropriate. It came after the NATO Secretary General was asked if he'd had any talks with Keir Starmer and his team.
Mr Sunak's intervention came as the pair were quizzed on defence spending amid warnings that authoritarian states are working together. He then launched into a rant about Keir Starmer.
He was flummoxed during a press conference when Mr Stoltenberg was asked if he was ready for Mr Sunak's expected election defeat. Journalist Pippa Crerar asked the NATO boss: "All the polls in the UK suggest that we may end up having a different Government after the election.
Rishi Sunak said it wasn't appropriate for NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg to answer questions about the general election (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)"How reassured are you by this really important defence commitment given by Mr Sunak? And if he then ends up finding himself out of office later this year, have you had discussions because of that - taking the precautionary principle - with the British opposition?"
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Mr Sunak was very keen for Mr Stoltenberg not to answer that question. "It's probably not right to draw Jens into domestic politics actually, given that wouldn't be appropriate for him," he said.
The NATO chief then stood silent as Mr Sunak launched an attack on Keir Starmer and the Labour leadership. He said: "What I would say is that when the general election comes, there will be a choice on this topic.
"Keir Starmer is someone who not once but twice asked the British people to make Jeremy Corbyn Prime Minister. Jeremy Corbyn wanted to leave NATO, get rid of our nuclear deterrent and turn the army into the Peace Corp."
During his announcement Mr Sunak stressed the need to stand up to tyrant Vladimir Putin and help Ukraine as he pledged to boost defence spending to £87billion-a-year by 2030.
On a visit to Poland, Mr Sunak pledged to hike spending on defence to 2.5% of the UK's GDP by the end of the decade - amounting to an additional £22.5billion over six years. The Government claimed it would be an additional £75billion cumulatively.
The PM said while the UK was "not on the brink of war", there is a growing threat from "an axis of authoritarian states". Speaking at a military base, the Prime Minister said: "The danger they pose is not new, but what is new is that these countries or their proxies are causing more instability, more quickly, in more places at once.
"And they're increasingly acting together, making common cause in an attempt to reshape the world order."
Labour's Shadow Defence Secretary, John Healey, said: "As Keir Starmer recently set out, Labour wants to see a fully funded plan to reach 2.5 per cent, but the Tories have shown time and time again that they cannot be trusted on defence and we will examine the detail of their announcement closely.
“The British public will judge ministers by what they do not what they say. Since 2010, the Conservatives have wasted more than £15 billion mismanaging defence procurement, shrunk the Army to its smallest size since Napoleon, missed their recruitment targets every year, and allowed morale to fall to record lows."