THE UK is not spending enough on defence and is losing influence on the USA to the EU, according to a former Chief of the Air Staff.

Asked if the UK was spending too little on defence, Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon told GB News: “Yes. And I think a lot of people have begun to recognise it. A number of politicians have said we should be spending 3%…

“And this GDP thing is a little bit of a misnomer because it goes up and down. So, if you’re in any sort of business, but physically in procurement, if you’re spending a percentage of something and it’s going down, you’re not actually going to be able to pay for what you want. So all these things play.

“It’s taken the invasion of Ukraine to actually get people to wake up to what’s been confronting them for ten, twelve, thirteen years.”

In a discussion with Nigel Farage, he added: “I mean, I go back to my time in the mid 90s when I think we missed the chance to make Russia more user-friendly. As a result of that, we got Putin.

“Putin probably came in with a view because he was KGB and very unhappy with what had happened before, but I just wonder if we’d been a little bit more accommodating to Russia…whether we would be facing what we are today? I don’t know. But I think we missed an opportunity.”

Sir Michael continued: “We’ve got to get him out of Ukraine but at the same time, we’ve got to find a way in which we don’t totally humiliate big Russia, Mother Russia. That’s going to be very difficult.

“Is it possible that we could find a way? I mean, if you look at Korea…we’ve actually never stopped that war in theory. And we’ve got UN and peacekeepers, sort of – is there a possibility we could develop something like that? I think we’ve got to find something. I don’t think it’s all or nothing.”

On the prospects for peace, he said: “Probably, I mean, I think at the moment we have to see how that offensive goes and all the rest of it. It’s always better to talk about peace when you’re winning, than when you’re losing. I’m not saying they’re losing. But, at the moment, it’s uncertain which way it’s going.”

He said leaving the EU has damaged relations with the USA: “America dials Europe, who does she speak to? She used to speak to us. She doesn’t any longer because we’re not in Europe.”

Asked if the RAF was too small, he said: “Yes. You can’t look at what has happened over the last 13 years and the steadily whittling down of the numbers, the mass of the service, and not reach a point when actually it’s too low…

“It’s very easy to say no, you don’t need mass, technology has taken over from it. I’d say, no, sorry. Just look at history. You need mass.”

On recruitment, he said: “The Air Force has subsequently been absolutely clear that it must be on merit. This problem of getting diversity, getting both females and the minorities into the Armed Services has been with us ever since I can remember…

“So yes, it’s a good thing to have some diversity in there but to try to mirror it to the population and as it were, adjust, manipulate if you like the figures to get it, that is quite wrong. We have to continue to go in the military for the best people, regardless.”

He added: ‘Well, one of the things that I thought we would talk about was global Britain. I think this is, frankly, a great delusion.

“You know, if you want to be a great power, or if you want to be global Britain and be able to reach into the things, you’ve got to have certain things.”