White Flag?

White Flag?

An Examination of Britain’s Modern-Day Defence Capability.
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White Flag?

White Flag?

An Examination of Britain’s Modern-Day Defence Capability.

Britain is at a crossroads. As we leave the EU, we face a great challenge and also the opportunity to forge a new identity in an increasingly uncertain world. Our Armed Forces will be critical to our power and prosperity.

For centuries, they have been the envy of the world. Now barely a day passes without reports of diminishing prowess. The number of Navy workhorse ships has been halved and the Army reduced to its smallest size since the Napoleonic war. Our spectacular new aircraft carriers and the F-35 fighter jet programme are mired in controversy. Meanwhile, the Armed Forces face questions about their purpose. The bitter experiences of Iraq and Afghanistan have undermined the concept of the military as a ‘force for good.’ Voters are now sceptical of discretionary wars in faraway places. Aside from sporadic jihadi attacks, few believe there is any real threat to our way of life.

Thus defence spending is no longer a public priority. Politicians know that there are more votes in schools and hospitals, even while they are deploy our troops onto the streets after suicide bombings or, more recently,  a nerve agent attack. In what feels like peacetime, no wonder top brass have to justify big budgets.

Yet this country faces an array of new and escalating threats, while Brexit and Donald Trump raise difficult questions over the future of our most important alliances. Have we become dangerously complacent?

Are we still masters of our own destiny, or have we run up the white flag?

Foreword by General Sir Mike Jackson.

Hardback
Print Length: 464 Pages
ISBN: 9781785904103
Publication Date: 2 October 2018
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eBook
Language: English
ISBN: 9781785904196
Publication Date: 2 October 2018
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Micheal Ashcroft
The man behind the book

LORD ASHCROFT KCMG PC is an international businessman, philanthropist, author and pollster. He is a former deputy chairman and former treasurer of the Conservative Party and is founder and chairman of the board of trustees at Crimestoppers. He is chairman of the trustees of Ashcroft Technology Academy and a former trustee of the Imperial War Museum. Lord Ashcroft has a lifelong interest in bravery and has built up the world’s largest collection of Victoria Crosses, currently standing at more than 200 decorations. His many charitable donations linked to gallantry and the Armed Forces include more than £5 million for a new gallery bearing his name at the Imperial War Museum, London. The gallery is home to the author’s Victoria Cross and George Cross collection as well as those decorations in the care of the IWM. Lord Ashcroft is also a political biographer who has written books on David Cameron, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.