𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Kemi Badenoch has called for the largest peacetime rearmament programme in British history. The Tory leader said the UK’s “disastrous lack of preparation” before the conflict in the Middle East should act as a “wake-up call” to boost our military might.

Her rallying cry comes after Sir Keir Starmer returned from the Gulf on Friday despite Britain playing no part in the ceasefire talks between the US and Iran. The Prime Minister insisted the UK’s diplomatic efforts were helping to resolve the crisis. But Mrs Badenoch says the country has been left desperately out of its depth at a moment of great peril.

And she has warned that Sir Keir still hasn’t published a long-overdue Defence Investment Plan because he had “no idea” how to pay for his target of spending 3% of GDP on defence by the next Parliament.

“This disastrous episode of our lack of preparation for war in the Gulf must act as a wakeup call,” she said last night.

“Not for navel gazing and finger pointing, but for action.”

She added: “This is a national scandal. There’s no plan for rearming Britain.

“And the reason there’s no plan is that they have no idea how they are going to pay for it.”

Mrs Badenoch will tell the London Defence Conference on Saturday that a future Conservative Government would reinstate the two-child benefit cap, which Labour has lifted, to fund increased defence spending.

If they return to power, the Tories would also take £17 billion from Ed Miliband’s “vanity” green projects to create a Sovereign Defence Fund.

She says this will fund the largest net increase in British troops – 6,000 regular soldiers and 14,000 reservists – under any Prime Minister since World War 2.

But Mrs Badenoch will warn that rearming Britain cannot wait until after the election, and will call on the PM to “put party interests aside” and find the money needed now.

She will also use her speech to express her dismay at Donald Trump’s recent social media remarks.

The US President has repeatedly mocked Sir Keir and the UK since he first unleashed a brutal bombing campaign on Iran last month.

She is expected to say: “While the outcome of this war in Iran remains uncertain, what’s clear is that the United States is playing by a very different rule book to the one we’ve been used to.

“Many people find President Trump’s actions to be an anathema.

They find his words unstatesmanlike; they find his treatment of allies to be needlessly provocative.

“I have to say that some of the president’s recent social media posts and comments to the press have dismayed me, too.

“Maybe his successor will return to more traditional diplomacy.”

She will argue that the so-called “special relationship” between Britain and America hasn’t always been smooth.

The Conservative chief insists Britain’s response must be to “reassert ourselves as a serious power in the world”.

“Show our allies what we bring to the table and show our enemies that we are ready to defend ourselves,” she will say.

“If we do not, we will have no say in whatever comes next.”