Lammy declares ‘Trump is right’ on defence spending as he warns post-Cold War peace is over

The foreign secretary has used his first major speech of 2025 to go after Putin’s aggression in tearing up the world order and back Trump’s demands for significant increases in defence spending

David Lammy has declared that the hard-won “post-Cold War peace is well and truly over” as he used his first major speech of 2025 to take aim at Vladimir Putin and Russian aggression.

The foreign secretary threw his weight behind demands by Donald Trump that Nato allies significantly increase their spending on defence, while laughing off the president-elect’s expansionist plans for Greenland and Canada.

Mr Trump demanded earlier this week that Nato allies commit 5 per cent of GDP to defence spending. While Mr Lammy did not back that figure, he warned that “some allies are lagging behind”, and added: “We must put our money where our mouth is.”

Speaking in the Locarno Suite in the Foreign Office on Thursday to an audience of diplomats and foreign policy experts, the foreign secretary said that Russian aggression had ripped up the established world order.

Foreign secretary David Lammy delivers a speech at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

He said: “We have to be taken seriously by opponents and allies alike.

“We must put our money where our mouth is. That starts by facing facts. Donald Trump and JD Vance are simply right when they say that Europe needs to do more to defend its own continent.

“It is myopia to pretend otherwise, with Russia on the march.”

Underlining his policy thrust of “progressive realism”, Mr Lammy also took aim at the previous Tory governments for undermining Britain’s place in the world. He hinted at wanting to repair some of the damaged relationships with other countries – not just the EU.

He also defended taking “a pragmatic approach” to relations with China, and cooperating on issues such as artificial intelligence and climate change.

Mr Lammy told an invited audience: “We and our allies must relearn the Cold War manual. Long-term thinking, not short-termism.

“Consistent deterrence, not constant distraction. Adapting as emerging technology reshapes the strategic environment. Securing strategic stability in an unstable world.”

And he warned: “Our opponents are coordinating ever more closely, with Iranian drones fired at Ukrainian cities and North Korean troops now fighting against Ukraine.”

Vladimir Putin’s Russia is a ‘mafia state’, Lammy said (EPA)

With Mr Trump threatening to unpick the international resolve to support Ukraine, Mr Lammy remained defiant about standing up to Putin.

He said: “Against Russia, progressive realism means not allowing Putin’s mafia state to act with impunity. Showing the world our resolve to stand by Kyiv until [the Ukrainians] prevail, guaranteeing £3bn a year in military aid for as long as it takes, and unlocking new funding backed by frozen Russian assets.”

He bemoaned the Tory legacy he has been bequeathed in foreign relations.

“Relations with our closest neighbours in Europe plunged to a post-war nadir. Climate leadership abandoned by Rishi Sunak. Global investors horrified by Liz Truss’s kamikaze Budget. Migration left out of control, and a botched merger under Boris Johnson. Our armed forced undermined by David Cameron’s cuts.” And the FCDO [Foreign Office] rudderless, with seven foreign secretaries in seven years.”

The speech set out to define Mr Lammy’s approach to foreign affairs in a troubling time after his first six months in the FCDO. He even made a point of agreeing with Mr Trump on defence spending.

Following the speech, Mr Lammy addressed issues around the incoming Trump presidency, including attacks on the UK by tech billionaire Elon Musk, who plans to play a major role in the new US administration.

On reports that Mr Musk is actively working to remove Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister, he said: “I think that Keir Starmer was exactly right earlier in the week when he, of course, acknowledged the right to free speech. And there is a debate across the world about free speech, and Elon Musk is at one end of that debate. My own view is you can’t have free speech if it’s not based on fact and on truth.”

US President-elect Donald Trump has suggested Nato members should be spending 5 per cent of GDP on defence (AP)

On Mr Trump’s threats to take over Greenland, he added: “I think that experience demonstrates that Donald Trump’s intensity of rhetoric, and his desire to pursue foreign policy through a lens of peace, through strength and through a degree of unpredictability, is one of his signatures, and that’s the environment we are in.

“Then I think you’ve got to sometimes step down from the rhetoric to the actuality. So, for example, in the last administration, he was pretty robust about Nato, but actually increased the amount of US troops stationed in Europe. He sent the first Javelins [missiles] to Ukraine.

“On the issues that he's raising around Greenland, I think what he’s got in his sights is concerns in the Arctic, which we share, about Russian and Chinese influence. Of course, there are US troops based in Greenland and a US base. He knows that Greenland is a kingdom of Denmark, but he also knows that there is a debate in Greenland in relation to their self-determination.

“So I think he knows what he’s up to, and centring in his mind is the national economic security of the people of the US and the Arctic Circle, which is hugely important to European security.”