Keith Turnbull

MoD / FCDO / author X3/ built a carbon neutral smart home to offset my 5.2L x2 turbo 630 bhp V12 supercar 🇬🇧

[The Telegraph @Telegraph]

Britain will lead a European project to develop a new long-range missile and end Nato’s reliance on US weapons.

The “Deep Precision Strike Coalition” will be unveiled as one of the first steps towards the creation of a European pillar of Nato, diplomats and officials told The Telegraph ⤵️
https://t.co/cLzoYWJsPK

[Larisa Brown @larisamlbrown]

Exclusive: Defence secretary Dan Jarvis made a last-minute change to the defence investment plan to make sure Britain joined an American ballistic missile programme after talks with Pete Hegseth.

It opens up an interesting debate on whether the UK should invest in UK companies who are behind in the technology or US ones who have already proven their use on the battlefield. Lots more detail about who rejected British Army requests to buy the missiles previously and why here:
https://t.co/1nUQ9PgtmE

[Keith Turnbull @Ktalltd]

31/32 Defence nations. Only Iceland will spend less pro rata. Well done Stammer

[Visegrád 24 @visegrad24]

🇬🇧 Starmer announced an additional £15 billion ($19.8 billion) for defense. Despite this, the UK will still lag behind major NATO countries

“We are setting a new record by spending nearly £300 billion on defence over the next four years,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, adding that "by 2029, almost £80bn per year will be spent on defence."

However, according to The Daily Telegraph, even with these investments, Britain’s defense spending will reach only 2.69% of GDP by 2030. For comparison, Germany plans to spend 3.7%, Sweden 3.5%, and Poland 5% of GDP.

In mid-June, Defense Secretary John Healey, his deputy, and two assistants resigned in protest. According to the Financial Times, Healey had demanded £18 billion in funding, arguing that the current level was insufficient.

Starmer also announced an £8.6bn investment in building fighter jets with Italy and Japan.

[Deborah Haynes @haynesdeborah]

Former UK military chief @AdmTonyRadakin_ says @JohnHealey_MP, the previous defence secretary, (who he served under), had wrongly assured the PM & chancellor that the 2025 Strategic Defence Review was "balanced and affordable" on a budget of 2.5% of GDP rising to 3% at some point in the next parliament. He says most assessments put true cost at at least 4% of GDP

It is a shame that Admiral Radakin didn't choose to ring the alarm so loudly and publicly when he was actually in office or resign in protest as Healey eventually did

https://t.co/18l8RAptKm

[Richard Moore @XChiefMI6]

Enjoyed this interview. Iran, Ukraine, China, James Bond, Slow Horses and The Bureau all feature.

Former MI6 Chief Sir Richard Moore on Today's Geopolitical Risks | Teneo... https://t.co/EVCVWkcR1n via @YouTube

[UK Defence Journal @UKDefJournal]

Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are increasingly learning from the war in Ukraine and sharing the lessons systematically, a senior NATO military official warned. Click image for more.
https://t.co/M3r09XvLHT

[Larisa Brown @larisamlbrown]

Dan Jarvis has announced the UK will provide its biggest package of drones for Ukraine. The MoD announced that 150,000 drones and 350 air defence missiles and radars would be handed over to the Ukrainians as part of a £752 million package, financed with the profits of seized Russian assets https://t.co/M3qJ3JFm1f

[Deborah Haynes @haynesdeborah]

I heard a lovely anecdote today about Sir Alex Younger, the former head of MI6, who has died at the age of 62.
Around the time the James Bond film “Spectre” was coming out, there was a private viewing at MI6’s HQ in Vauxhall with some of the production team and actors, including Ralph Fiennes.
Alex Younger compared the event, which included an opportunity for members of the audience (who were largely real life spies) to quiz the actors and producers.
One person asked Ralph Fiennes: Who was your favourite Bond?
He gave an answer about how they were all good, but his favourite was Daniel Craig. The rest of the team said similar.
Then Alex threw the question back to the person in the audience who had posed it, asking them who their favourite Bond was.
But before this person had time to give an answer, someone else in the audience shouted out: “You, sir!”

The individual (a former diplomat) who shared this story with me said it was one of so many examples of how admired, liked and respected Alex was by his colleagues.

“He was one of the best chiefs”.

[Visegrád 24 @visegrad24]

BREAKING:

New police announcement by Reform UK:

“We will pass the Equal Treatment Act banning Police Race Action Plans, DEI practices in the Police and end the religious exemption to carry deadly weapons”

[Deborah Haynes @haynesdeborah]

Exactly one year since the UK published with great fanfare a sweeping review of defence and a pledge to rearm, many defence companies are preparing for financial ruin rather than preparing for war as they await the delayed defence investment plan… ⬇️

https://t.co/BmaK0K69Vc

[Larisa Brown @larisamlbrown]

Exclusive: Senior military officers who have seen the unpublished defence investment plan have raised concerns with colleagues that there is not enough money for key technologies even with the £18 billion, which Sir Keir Starmer is yet to sign off. There are concerns he might only agree to £15 billion https://t.co/NtNm55Zudd

[Keith Turnbull @Ktalltd]

Proper reporting as always.
https://t.co/VkWQu3y3VV

[Deborah Haynes @haynesdeborah]

BREAKING: Foreign Secretary @YvetteCooperMP has strongly signalled that the UK will increase defence spending even further, saying “any lingering cosy assumptions about our defence and security are gone. So too is the post-Cold War peace dividend”.
She said the UK must "face up to the need to do much more so we properly protect our citizens".
Speaking after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, Ms Cooper said: “We discussed in the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting how Russia’s weakening on the battlefield against Ukraine is also making them more reckless and dangerous.
“In the face of that threat and the ongoing global instability, the NATO Alliance is vital and enduring, but within it Europe and the UK must do more. We have already been stepping up with significantly increased defence investment. But we have to face up to the need to do much more so we properly protect our citizens.
“Russia is now under huge pressure from Ukraine’s military response and from economic challenges, but that is making them more unpredictable with escalating attacks on Ukrainian civilians, increasing hybrid threats across the continent, and reports of drone incursions. The threat from Russia is increasing on air, land, sea, space, cyber and information warfare.
“Any lingering cosy assumptions about our defence and security are gone. So too is the post-Cold War peace dividend.
“That’s why we need to keep increasing our defence and security capabilities and maintain our support for Ukraine. NATO is the most successful defensive alliance in history and now we need to keep building a stronger Europe within NATO. The safety, stability and prosperity of our citizens depends upon it.”

[Deborah Haynes @haynesdeborah]

How to board a hostile ship without an invitation…

British @RoyalMarines, US special forces and other elite troops raid a “shadow fleet” vessel in the Black Sea as part of a NATO exercise ⬇️

https://t.co/cmHK6sJvKv

[Deborah Haynes @haynesdeborah]

Some 3,000 elite troops from the US, the UK and 22 other nations are taking part in NATO's biggest special forces exercise in Europe even as Donald Trump reduces support to his allies⬇️

https://t.co/vHlpB4YHQB

[Dr. Dan Lomas @Sandbagger_01]

BBC News - Mandelson papers being withheld, says intelligence watchdog
https://t.co/evACK06FDA

[Larisa Brown @larisamlbrown]

EXCLUSIVE Sir Keir Starmer is expected to approve an £18 billion increase in defence spending as he faces a battle for political survival https://t.co/Y6kL9Sx46b with @Steven_Swinford and @oliver_wright

[Robert Morton @Robert4787]

Sleeper agents don’t look like spies. They buy homes, raise kids, and blend in. Operation Ghost Stories showed how the FBI uses surveillance and counterintelligence to find the pattern beneath the cover story. #FBI #Espionage #Russia
https://t.co/XkmBDJH3gc

[Daily Mail @DailyMail]

Putin sacks head of Russian air defences amid mounting Ukrainian drone strikes as paranoid dictator scrambles to secure skies ahead of Victory Day parade https://t.co/oxOxYyAP20

[CIA @CIA]

Fifteen years ago today (1 May 2011), U.S. Navy SEALs raided a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan and killed Usama Bin Laden. The raid marked the end of a more than 15-year effort by partners across the Intelligence Community to find Bin Ladin.

Learn more: https://t.co/vA7dJxHClB