UK defence cuts will have profound effect, warns US diplomat

One of America’s leading diplomats has said he finds cuts to British defence spending “extremely troubling” and has called on the next government to spend two per cent of GDP on the military.

John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the UN and a leading Republican spokesman on foreign affairs, said any further cuts in defence spending would make Britain “far more vulnerable militarily” and send a signal to potential enemies that “there is a diminished will in the West to defend itself”.

He warned that further cuts in defence expenditure could seriously affect future coalition operations with the US.

Read more