Originally Posted by FB
Ladies & Gentlemen,
The latest breaking news is that Lord West (he of 1st Sea Lord fame) has said in a press conference, to support Labour's new policy on Defence Procurement, that we're still a first rate military power! Not like Bloody Belgium or Denmark!!
What do we think?
FB
The Labour Party has apologised after one of its most senior politicians described Belgium and Denmark as "second-tier" countries. Outlining the party's defence policy review, ex-Security Minister Lord West said the UK retained a "certain clout". And he argued that too much downgrading of military capacity would make it more like "bloody Denmark or Belgium"...
Irrespective of any wartime decorations awarded to their citizens (the Nepalese won a fair few, too), casualties or their disproportionately significant contributions to UN and NATO operations, Denmark (Pop 5.6m) and Belgium (Pop 11m) are ranked by SIPRI as 38th and 37th respectively in military spending while the UK (Pop 62m) is ranked 4th (
Wiki link).
The problem comes in the UK acting on the world's stage as though it is ranked 2nd. That said, it is fair to say that it still has significantly more 'clout' than Denmark or Belgium. Whether it was tactful to point this out is another question.