Rishi Sunak pushes the nuclear general election button as he bets on national security for survival

Rishi Sunak fired the starting gun on the long election campaign with a warning that the world is going through its most dangerous period since the Cold War

Rishi Sunak framed himself as the only man who can lead Britain through the “most dangerous period” for the world since the end of the Cold War as he made a desperate plea to voters to get behind his plan.

In what was in effect the opening salvo for a long general election campaign, the prime minister’s major speech in central London laid out his preferred battleground of defence and national security.

Citing the danger facing the UK, Mr Sunak said: “Putin’s recklessness has taken us closer to a dangerous nuclear escalation than at any point since the Cuban missile crisis.”