NATO military chief presses UK to accelerate defence pledges May 31, 2026 Nato’s military chief has urged Britain and other allies to speed up the delivery of their defence pledges. Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, Nato’s military committee chair, said he is “frustrated” by the UK and its allies’ commitments to spend on defence which he said do not stand if there is no equipment to show for [...]
Top spook says Russia ‘relentlessly targeting’ UK infrastructure May 27, 2026 One of Britain’s top spooks is set to warn that Russia is “relentlessly targeting” the country’s critical infrastructure as businesses have been urged to take action on cyber security. GCHQ director Anne Keast-Butler will deliver a speech on Wednesday where she will warn the public about cyberattacks by Russia and other hostile actors targeting the [...]
Exclusive: Ajax tank maker handed £12m from MoD despite trial pause May 7, 2026 The company behind the failed Ajax tank was paid more than £12m in the period trials were paused, City PM can reveal, laying bare the scale of dysfunction inside national defence procurement. General Dynamics continued to receive taxpayer cash in the period between late November and this week, the time where the government intervened to [...]
Healey: Defence investment is Starmer’s ‘highest priority’ April 10, 2026 Defence secretary John Healey has said defence investment is the Prime Minister’s “highest priority” as military officials wait for a long-awaited strategy paper on procurement and spending. At the London Defence Conference, Healey said Sir Keir Starmer has taken a “personal interest” in drafting the Defence Investment Plan, which was due to be published last [...]
14 charts reveal the massive challenges facing UK and NATO defence spending April 7, 2026 Defence spending is casting a shadow over Downing Street. Military officers are in a state of despair. The choices facing Sir Keir Starmer are stark. The political calculus for the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has become more complicated than ever as the Iran war puts public finances in danger. Their difficulties go back to February 2025 [...]
Exclusive: Mordaunt suggests only death of Brits would get UK to ‘wake up’ on defence March 30, 2026 Former defence secretary Penny Mordaunt has suggested that only the death of serving British soldiers would get the Prime Minister to “wake up” and fund extra defence spending. In an interview with City PM, the senior Tory figure said the current government’s spending plans for defence were “out of kilter” with reality given immediate threats [...]
Nato: Starmer’s defence spending pledge lagging behind March 26, 2026 Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge to upgrade the armed forces is facing renewed scrutiny after official Nato figures suggested that spending in defence was lagging ahead of a crucial expenditure target in 2027. Starmer said last year that the government would increase spending on defence to 2.6 per cent of GDP from 2027. But Nato, the [...]
MoD looks to hire AI chief on £185,000 – just don’t use it in your application March 23, 2026 The Ministry of Defence is on the search for a new AI chief to put the UK on a tech war footing. The MoD said its new chief AI officer would be in charge of leading an in-house technology centre and bringing AI into operation across the military for “maximum impact”. The London-based job will [...]
Diploma: Shares in FTSE 100 giant boom after profit upgrade March 18, 2026 Shares in specialist tech supplier Diploma boomed on Wednesday morning after the group slapped a hefty upgrade on its financial targets for 2026. The firm’s stock was up as much as 15 per cent on open to 5,771.06p. It came as the FTSE 100 giant said it expects revenue growth to come in at nine [...]
Starmer refuses to reveal date of defence investment plan March 4, 2026 Sir Keir Starmer hit back at criticism the UK government was not spending enough on defence amid an escalating conflict in the Middle East putting RAF jets and British nationals at risk. The Prime Minister declined to reveal when the much-anticipated defence investment plan would be published as Kemi Badenoch centred her attacks on the [...]
