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The sluggish deployment of a Royal Navy warship to Cyprus after a drone strike on an RAF base was a wake-up call decades in the making. After years of salami-slicing by successive governments, our military has been left a shadow of what it was and now Sir Keir Starmer has a decision to make.

Will he stick to his current plan of gradual defence spending increases, or will this rapidly deteriorating security situation make him change course? The latter, experts believe, is increasingly the path the Prime Minister must take. HMS Dragon and her brave crew are now full steam ahead to the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Type 45 destroyer set sail on Tuesday afternoon — a week after her deployment was announced — and by the time she arrives in waters around Cyprus, it will likely be at least two weeks since a hangar at RAF Akrotiri was hit by a drone.

In stark contrast, France has sent an armada to the wider region, including its Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier.

Labour peer Lord West, who was First Sea Lord between 2002 and 2006, said the disparity is “embarrassing”.

“[Emmanuel] Macron’s clearly enjoying it, wearing his Ray-Bans and walking around on the deck of the ship out in Cyprus,” he said.

“Clearly the Cypriot government think it, because they have given us a right old cold shoulder and said ‘oh thank goodness we got the Greeks and the French looking after us’.

“It’s been an embarrassment for us.”

The fiasco has only exposed mounting concerns that our Armed Forces are simply too small in terms of both manpower and kit.

And the latest figures from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) paint a worrying picture.

The Royal Navy, including the Marines, has 27,820 full-time fully-trained personnel — a decrease of 1.1% on the year before and less than half the size it was in 1991 at the end of the Cold War (62,000).

The British Army has for some time been at its smallest since the Napoleonic era, with 70,300 full-time fully-trained troops — an annual fall of 1.5% and also less than half its size in 1991 (148,000).

Meanwhile, the RAF has 27,560 personnel — 1.5% down on the year prior and significantly smaller than the 88,000 in 1991.

To demonstrate this manpower decline, you could fit all Navy and RAF personnel inside Cheltenham Racecourse and still have room for 10,620 from the Army.

The nature of warfare has, of course, changed significantly since the Cold War ended, but this demonstrates how defence has fallen down the Westminster priorities.

Although drones have become the defining weapon of the war in Ukraine, mass has still proven critical.

And worryingly, it is understood there are growing concerns within NATO over the size of the British military.

One source said while the UK remains “very well regarded” within the alliance for its leadership and experience, allies “don’t see us having the mass to make much of a difference anymore”.

They said Britain has some “first-class” kit, but there’s not enough to back it up, pointing towards the Navy’s six Type 45 destroyers — half of which are often out of action while undergoing maintenance — as an example.

Labour plans to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP in 2027, with an “ambition” to hit 3% in the next parliament.

Reports suggest there is a £28 billion hole in the defence budget over the next four years and many are warning the currency spending trajectory is not enough as the unpredictable Donald Trump pressures NATO’s European allies to step up.

Sir Keir has said Britain “needs to go faster” on defence spending but it appears Chancellor Rachel Reeves is resisting these calls.

Lord West said: “She’s got to do it and she’s got to find money, either by increased taxation, borrowing or cutting money in other areas such as welfare.

“None of those are attractive but they’re not as unattractive as having a war and losing it.”

Going one further, the former Navy chief added: “There’s a lot to be said actually for putting our defence industries and our military on a war footing at the moment to get something done.”

Former defence secretary Dame Penny Mordaunt said: “The fragility of our services and lack of readiness should be a wake-up call, but there is no sign of the Treasury recognising that they need to start funding defence now.

“We have got to modernise our Armed Forces, but also increase their readiness — that means more investment in spare parts and faster maintenance work today.”

She added: “What else needs to happen for [the PM] to wake up and start the necessary funding to keep us and our interests safe? The new NATO floor [3.5% of GDP on core defence] needs to be more than an ambition.”

Delays to the Defence Investment Plan, which sets out how the Government will fund its Strategic Defence Review and likely further detail on intended capabilities over the next decade, has only heightened concerns over the state of defence.

The events over the past couple of weeks have plunged the Navy into the spotlight.

It has just seven ageing frigates left — less than the number France is deploying alone in response to the Middle East crisis.

Other major capabilities like the Type 45s, aircraft carriers and Trident-armed submarines have also faced issues, including availability.

And until more ships start coming online later this decade, it is likely the Navy will continue to be stretched and have to make tough choices.

Issues also persist elsewhere; the Army’s £6.3 billion Ajax armoured vehicle programme has so far been a disaster, while the RAF continues to face pilot training woes and planes to replace the E-3D Sentry surveillance aircraft which retired in 2021 have still not entered service.

The UK’s very recent drawdown of naval assets from the Gulf has only left Sir Keir with more egg on his face.

For the first time in 46 years, there are no Navy ships in the region.

The last remaining vessel, minehunter HMS Middleton, returned to the UK last week after being carried home on a heavy lift vessel.

Soon after her return, we learn Iran has begun mining the Strait of Hormuz, a key global trade route for oil and gas.

And while we have some autonomous anti-mine systems in the Gulf, this sorry state of affairs is symbolic of our withering military.

Former defence minister and Defence Select Committee chair Tobias Ellwood said Labour must “grasp the big decisions”.

He warned the Iran war is “just a warmup” and fears it will take a flashpoint, like a drone attack on Portsmouth naval base, to really make people stand up and take notice of our weakened position.

Pressure is piling on Sir Keir to make bold decisions on defence.

The PM is now at a crossroads and many fear he cannot afford to take the wrong turn as global security unravels at an alarming rate.