Posted February 23, 2023 by: Admin #News

The UK could find itself in a “hot or cold” war within seven years, according to the country’s Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, who issued a stark warning. He claimed that conflict was imminent and that “war is coming” due to the rise of global instability, pointing the finger at Vladimir Putin’s aggressive foreign policy as one of the root causes.

Speaking to The Sun, Wallace argued that the government needed to prepare for danger, adding that “in order to deter, you just have to be ready, you have to be equipped and you have to stand with your friends and your allies”.

Wallace’s remarks have set up a potential row in the Tory party, with former cabinet member Jeremy Hunt demanding a larger allocation of the defence budget ahead of his Budget statement on 15 March. General Sir Richard Barrons, former commander of Joint Forces Command, has also called for a boost of £3bn to the defence budget. Admiral Lord West, former First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, has also weighed in, criticising the government for not increasing defence spending.

Wallace’s prediction of war comes ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Ukraine conflict, which erupted on Friday. He noted that “Russia has shown a complete disregard, not only for the lives of the people of Ukraine, but for its own soldiers”. Wallace added that “when someone has crossed the line and thinks it is OK to do that to your own people, running effectively a meat grinder for an army, I think he is not going to stop”.

The Defence Secretary’s statement that “war is coming” echoes the comments of the late British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, who declared that “peace in our time” had been secured with Germany on the eve of the Second World War. However, while Chamberlain was mistaken in his assessment, Wallace’s warning has been taken seriously by many, given the rising tensions between the West and Russia.

The UK government has been criticised in the past for “deliberately keeping defence broken”, with a “growing proportion” of public spending needing to go towards ensuring the country’s safety, according to Wallace. The Defence Secretary’s prediction of conflict within seven years is a stark reminder that the world is becoming increasingly unstable, and that the UK must prepare itself for the worst.