Nigel Farage cannot be trusted with national security, says defence secretary

Defence Secretary John Healy has said he would not trust Nigel Farage with Britain's national security, after the Reform UK chief refused to back sending British troops to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal.

The Labour minister told the Mirror: “I wouldn't trust Farage with Britain's national security. A man who won't back the commitment for British troops. A man who admires President Putin, who runs a party of Russian apologists.”

Mr Farage said last week that he would vote against putting UK troops on the ground alongside France in the event of a peace deal in Ukraine.

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Mr Healy also referenced the party’s ex-leader in Wales, Nathan Gill, who was sentenced to ten and a half years in prison for accepting Russian bribes while serving in the European Parliament.

He added: "This is a man whose leader in Wales was a paid, hired hand for Putin."

In 2014, Farage said that he had “more admiration for Putin than the ‘kids’ who run Britain” after he was criticised for telling GQ that he respected the Russian leader as “an operator”.

Earlier this month, Sir Keir Starmer said MPs would have the opportunity to vote on the final number of troops deployed to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal.

Sir Keir said that British and French forces will help to train Ukrainian troops and protect stocks of weaponry, aimed at deterring future Russian aggression.

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But the Reform leader hit out at the plan, saying it would not work in its current form as only “two countries” - Britain and France - had committed to a military presence in a post-war Ukraine.

The MP for Clacton told Times Radio: “It would be a very interesting vote. I would vote against. We neither have the manpower nor the equipment to go into an operation that clearly has no ending timeline...Frankly, what this would be is a modern-day British army of the Rhine. When we did that, defence was 5 per cent of our national expenditure, and we were there for 50 years.”

Responding to his comments, Mr Healy told The Mirror: "Our British forces will always do the job that we need them to do. They'll do the job to defend us, they'll do the job to deter us. They'll do the job if we require them to deploy to any part of the world. I have no doubt about that and have full confidence in them."

A spokesperson for Reform said: "Reform UK are committed to increasing defence spending to 3 per cent within six years, far quicker than the government's plans.

“Until then, the British Army has neither the manpower nor the equipment to take on a long term mission. Nigel Farage has been clear: A Reform government would defend NATO airspace from Russian aggression."