Britain’s new top team will have to ‘learn extremely fast’ to face global threats

Britain’s new foreign and defence secretaries will have to “learn extremely fast on the job” to deal with the global threats and challenges that they will have to rapidly make decisions on, experts have told The National.

The new Foreign Secretary David Lammy will be plunged into the brewing Middle East crises with the looming threat of a war between Israel and Hezbollah, as well as the unresolved Gaza situation and Iran.

John Healey, the new Defence Secretary, will also be exposed to the full depth of security dangers faced by Britain and almost certainly the gnawing issue of ill-prepared armed forces.

Elsewhere, Rachel Reeves will very soon find out the true strength or otherwise of Britain’s finances as she become the first woman to head the treasury in its 800-year history.

Shabana Mahmood, who fought off a tough challenge from a pro-Gaza candidate in her Birmingham seat, will have to make a difficult choice on freeing prisoners early from the UK’s overcrowded jails.

Foreign mover

But Mr Lammy, 51, who it had been speculated might be moved into a different role in favour of someone with more foreign experience, has impressed the new prime minister by building relationships with foreign ministers.

It was the son of Guyanese immigrants to Britain who took Mr Starmer into a meeting with the French President Emmanuel Macron during the recent D-Day commemorations where former prime minister Rishi Sunak left early.

“David Lammy has been very active over the last year meeting foreign leaders and forging relationships,” said foreign affairs specialist Prof Anand Menon, of London University. “He’s been quite active in introducing Keir Starmer into those relationships.”

While Mr Lammy, who was the first black British person to be educated at Harvard Law School, does not have the “heft” of his predecessor, former prime minister David Cameron, that was “not something that we should be worried about”.

“Starmer has deliberately set David Lammy up as the proponent of calm, rational reasonable government,” Prof Menon added.

That will be required if, as analysts have stated, the new Labour government seeks to take the initiative in resolving the Israel-Gaza war.

Mr Lammy has said he wants to see “an immediate ceasefire” in the Israel-Gaza conflict.

“I will do all I can diplomatically to support Joe Biden in bringing about that ceasefire,” he said speaking from the Foreign Office.

Asked by reporters if he would be willing to work with Donald Trump should he be re-elected, Mr Lammy said: “I will work closely with whoever is in the White House in the end. The US is a great democracy.

“In democracies, of course, there is debate and discussion and difference.

“We’ve seen that over the last six weeks in our own country, but the job of international security, the key partnership role that the UK and US play is hugely important.”

Kremlin’s eyes

Mr Healey, 64, has a calmness of manner that will be much in demand as he juggles with the secret missions that British forces conduct overseas while trying to build a conventional military that can be a proper deterrent to the growing Russian threat.

Clearly, the continued military aid to Ukraine will remain a priority but very soon he will have to address the persistent problems of kit procurement and personnel problems that have “hollowed out” the forces, particularly the army, according to a recent parliamentary report.

While he will be surrounded by some of Whitehall’s ablest and most experienced civil servants, Mr Healey still comes into one of the top government jobs without a cabinet history.

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“The big test is that Labour don’t have a huge amount of experience when we have the greatest challenges facing us since World War Two,” said Col Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former tank regiment commander.

“The top MoD people will have to brief him without any gloss stating that there’s a lot to do in UK defence, because a conventional military deterrence it isn’t.”

There was also “no doubt” that Moscow will be paying very close attention to Mr Healey’s appointment looking for any weaknesses, given that Britain is one of the chief providers of weapons to Ukraine.

“Like David Lammy he will have to learn extremely fast on the job to stay in the game as there’s no doubt that the Kremlin will be looking very closely at him over the next few weeks with any weakness on defence exploited by the Russians,” Col Hamish de Bretton-Gordon said.

“But John Healey is a decent guy who will be made fully aware of the threat situation, especially as Israel and Iran has the potential to explode in Middle East and Isis has not completely disappeared.”

He added that “there’s a lot” that the new Labour government had “to get their heads around”.

Updated: July 05, 2024, 6:01 PM