Former NATO commander gives speech at Lancaster University

On Wednesday 19th November, former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander of NATO Sir Richard Shirreff gave a speech at the Martin Edmonds Memorial lecture.

The talk highlighted the precarious nature of European security, the wider implications of the war in Ukraine, and draws attention to the increasingly strained budget of the UK government.

The Martin Edmonds memorial lectures are a University tradition, following the passing of the late Martin Edmonds in 2018, a Lancaster University lecturer esteemed for his expertise in defense studies. The lectures are primarily focused on military history, defense and security, and international relations.

Shirreff himself has an extensive and decorated background in NATO and the military, and served as Deputy Commander of NATO from 2011-2014, publishing a visionary book titled “2017 War With Russia: An urgent warning from senior military command” that warned of Russian aggression in Eastern Europe.

Shirreff began the talk with an anecdote on his initial thoughts upon receiving the invite to give the talk, returning to his time in the army during the Gulf war, talking of three men in his troop whom he nicknamed The Lancaster mafia, “and to my dying day, I shall have the greatest respect, affection, and I owe such a great debt to those Lancashire men” dedicating the talk, in part, to them.

However, following these formalities he made his focus clear extremely quickly – defining Putin’s Russia as “a twenty-six year regime defined by war” and positioning himself as staunchly anti-Russian, citing not just the war in Ukraine from 2022 onwards, but prior patterns of Russian aggression, including conflicts in Chechnya and Georgia in 2008, as well as Crimea in 2014.

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Shirreff voiced his concerns that Putin’s actions have faced a lack of consequence for military aggression, leading into his views on Trump’s warm reception of Putin despite the war in Ukraine, he said: “And when I see an indicted war criminal on the red carpet at an Alaskan air base on US soil being greeted by the US president, it looks to me as if he will get away with it again.”

When assessing Russian interests in Ukraine, Shirreff made his thoughts quite clear he did not believe Putin would be satisfied by a partial victory in Ukraine stating “he wants the lot”.

Continuing on from this initial discussion of Russian Imperialism, Shirreff said: “if you want peace, prepare for war,” which he believes should be the response of the West. quoting the classic Latin adage, going on to end his speech by stating: “the only way we prevent war is to be strong. The way we invite war is to be weak.”

The speech was held by the CWD in the Margaret Cavendish lecture theatre

Following this, the discussion moved into a Q&A, where several of Shirreff’s claims were challenged or expanded upon:

He criticised the government’s current military expenditure, remarking: “Our leaders have got to get a grip in this country, particularly of bloated welfare spending, our social security spending which completely cramps any efforts to increase defence spending.”

Shirreff believes looing to Eastern Europe is the solution. He cites Poland spending 5 per cent of its annual budget on the military, the highest in NATO, as an admirable goal, compared to the UK’s current 2.4% (approximately £62 billion). The current Labour government aims to be spending 2.5 per cent by 2027 and 3.5 per cent by 2035 targets Shirreff felt were a bare minimum coming far too late.

Furthermore, when questioned on the size of the army, he pointed to Finland as his ideal solution: “Not only is the notion of universal male conscription completely accepted, it’s a badge of honour.” believing the UK should reinstate conscription.

Later, he was pressed further on his comments calling Russia “imperialist”, with a student remarking: “Outside of Western Europe, the West narratives don’t land. They are just seen as hypocrisy, the invasion of Iraq, which was an act of aggression not sanctioned by the UN Security Council on completely made up intelligence. And we use the same rhetoric accusing the Russians of exactly the same thing”

Shirreff responded there are “no easy answers” to the issue, however he made it clear his mindset towards Iraq was: “History goes on. As a soldier, you either turn to the right, get on with it, or you resign. I turn to the right” referring to his time in Iraq around 2006 in the rebuilding period.

Regarding winning the propaganda war against Russia over Ukraine, in spite of the wests failings such as the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Shirreff said: “The only way to do this, is for the Ukraine voices to be heard.”

Following the talk, we managed to fit in two questions – one being clarification on a book he recommended – that being Defeat into Victory by William Slimm, the second, was regarding Shirreff’s position on the British government arming Israel amidst waning military support due to the conflict in Gaza.

Considering the fact that garnering public support for the military and defence spending was a major point of Shirreff’s talk, we asked about if arming Israel has harmed support for the defence industry.

Shirreff had went on to say: “Tough love for Israel, Israel has the right to defend itself. It does not have a right to colonise the west bank, it does not have the right to break international law” he affirmed his belief in a peaceful two state solution, and referred to the occupation of the west bank as a “colonial occupation of 800,000 Israeli people”.

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Featured images via Sophie Therese Ambler, NATO and the Lancaster University centre for War and Diplomacy