"Defence is of key strategic importance."
I agree of course ,as do almost everyone on here - but not to politicians, the Great British Public or most of the rest of the country. The issue starts when someone "weaponises" statements like "Over £1.8 billion spent so far on new stealth fighter" and then suggests that this is outrageous waste, korupsi, madness and it should instead be spent on pensioners, the NHS, tax cuts...................... and that's what happens.
No-one ever sets out a coherent, consistent, long term strategy or UK defence/defence industry - it all seems to be made up every week to meet the latest photo call/Daily Mail headline..