YOU won’t find anyone less military-minded than me but Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch’s speech to the London Defence Conference last week prompted me to put these questions to her on X:
‘How many combat-trained Islamists do you estimate there to be in Britain? Would they now outnumber the British Army and, if so, by how many?’
I very much doubt that I will get an answer. She is a busy woman and she might be reluctant to comment for fear of being drawn into an anti-Muslim conspiracy theory. She should note that the question is about Islamists, not about integrated and peaceable British Muslims.
It was this part of her speech, highlighted by historian Niall Ferguson on X, that provoked the questions:
‘General Sir Richard Barrons, co-author of the Government’s Strategic Defence Review, stripped away the pretence when he said: “Today’s army, frankly, could do one very small thing. It could seize a small market town on a good day”.’
Ms Badenoch also said: ‘Between 1989 and 2022, defence spending fell in every year. One of the authors of the Strategic Defence Review has since said: “The UK is trapped in a conspiracy of stupidity because politicians won’t make the case for cutting spending to fund defence.” And he’s not the only one who thinks that. In Washington, US administrations have felt for years that, while America subsidised the defence of Europe, we built welfare systems instead. On this point, they are right. Before the Second World War, one in every £7 the British government spent went on health and welfare. By last year, it had soared to one in every £3. We have grown fat on welfare, prioritising benefits over bullets.’
According to the House of Lords Library: ‘As at 1 April 2025, there were 181,890 people in the UK armed forces, a 1 per cent decrease compared with the previous year. This total includes:
· all full-time service personnel (known as the UK regular forces) and Gurkhas, who comprise 77.7 per cent of the total number of personnel
· volunteer reserves (17.5 per cent of the total personnel)
· other personnel, including the serving regular reserve, sponsored reserve and military provost guard service (4.8 per cent of the total personnel)
‘The total size of the full-time UK armed forces, comprising the UK regular forces, Gurkhas and full-time reserve service, was around 147,000. Of these, 82,000 were Army personnel, 33,000 were members of the Royal Navy or Royal Marines, and 32,000 belonged to the Royal Air Force.’
So if there were 100,000 combat-trained Islamists in Britain, they would outnumber the British Army by about 20,000. I realise that there are various levels of combat training. It is possible that British Army personnel are better trained than any Islamist forces they might face on British soil. But would they be better motivated, given the way they are being treated by the Government? Why has the Government apparently failed to reckon with the appalling impact on morale and recruitment from the lawfare it is allowing against special forces and Northern Ireland veterans?
Moreover, the demoralisation of young males in British society, particularly white working-class males who traditionally do most of the dying in the country’s wars, hardly bodes well if conscription became necessary. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Free Speech Union General Secretary Lord Toby Young used a stronger word than demoralisation. He called the ‘demonisation’ of white working-class boys a ‘national disgrace’.
He wrote: ‘The stark figures about the under-achievement of white children in the bottom socio-economic quintile obscure an even bleaker story about the gap between male and female students in this demographic. In England, 40 per cent of white British girls eligible for free school meals got grade 4 or above in maths and English last year, compared with 38 per cent of boys. When it comes to university, just 14.5 per cent of poor white boys started higher education in 2021-22, compared to 24.4 per cent of poor white girls.’
He argued: ‘Perhaps the answer is to de-wokify our schools and – to paraphrase Martin Luther King – judge all children by the content of their character rather than the colour of their skin or the nature of their genitalia. Looking at the data, it’s hard not to conclude that white working class boys are victims of the racial and sexual politics that have infected our entire education sector. Its capture by radical progressive ideology is the real “national disgrace”, but don’t expect this Government to do anything about that.’
In view of the state of the British Army, as highlighted by Kemi Badenoch in her speech, the question unfortunately lingers: if British soldiers could barely capture a small market town, how are they supposed to win the Battle of Birmingham in the event of that city falling to armed Islamists?
Editor’s note: The state of the British Armed Forces is just about to get worse according to a Daily Mail report published yesterday:
‘Keir Starmer is facing anger over ‘extraordinary’ claims UK military chiefs are being asked to find billions of pounds in cuts amid the Iran crisis and the threat from Russia.
‘The heads of the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force – along with other top brass – are reported to be meeting this week to discuss funding pressures.
‘They have been asked by Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials to find £3.5billion of ‘efficiencies’ and other savings this year . . .
‘James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, said it was “extraordinary” that military chiefs are being asked to find cuts at a time of ‘war on two fronts’ in the Middle East and Ukraine.
‘The senior Tory MP pointed to how Labour had spent around £3billion on lifting the two-child benefit cap, adding: ‘Politics is always about what you prioritise.’
‘The row came as Sir Keir faced charges of leaving Britain ‘unsafe’ with a former Nato chief and Labour minister condemning the PM’s ‘corrosive complacency.’
Meanwhile Lord Robertson has accused Sir Keir of failing to act with the country ‘under attack’, insisting the Iran war should be a ‘rude wake-up call’ and warned the Government is prioritising ‘the ever-expanding welfare budget’ over essential security. The Mail’s report is worth reading in full here.
Needless to say there is no mention in it of the internal dangers that face Britain that our army may not be up to dealing with.
