The Secretary of State for Defence (John Healey)
My right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Defence (Lord Coaker) has made the following written ministerial statement.
In the strategic defence review published in June 2025, the Government committed to bring forward a defence diplomacy strategy. Today, we fulfil that commitment.
The full strategy is necessarily classified, due to its assessments of the UK’s interests. The public summary published and placed in the Library of the House today sets out the concrete actions the Ministry of Defence will take, alongside other Government Departments to deliver the strategy.
Our world has changed. The threats we face are more serious and less predictable than at any time since the cold war. In this new era, our first defence diplomacy strategy lays the foundation for UK defence to be more deliberate, targeted and coherent in deepening our international relationships with allies and partners. It is backed by the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the cold war, and sets out how diplomacy will support the delivery of the SDR’s priorities to make the UK more secure at home and strong abroad.
At a time when Europe has been rightly challenged to step up to meet the security demands in its own region, and in the face of growing Russian aggression, the primary focus of our defence diplomacy is on supporting our commitment to NATO.
Since coming into office 20 months ago, we have secured strategic agreements with Germany, France and Norway, all of which strengthen our national security and make defence an engine for growth at home. We have also galvanised international support for Ukraine. Since February 2025, the UK has stepped up to co-chair the Ukraine defence contact group with Germany—the international forum for providing military equipment to Ukraine. And we co-lead the coalition of the willing with France to help secure a lasting peace in Ukraine.
“NATO first” does not mean NATO only. Security in the Euro-Atlantic is indivisible from security in the middle east and Indo-Pacific. The UK is fully committed to working with our global allies and partners on shared defence priorities.
This new strategy provides a framework for how defence will work across Government and with allies and international partners to do that via diplomacy.
It focuses effort on the UK’s most critical objectives, ensuring better departmental prioritisation and value for money for the taxpayer. For the first time, it puts growth at the heart of defence diplomacy, by encouraging investment in British-based businesses British exports and the procurement of British-made defence equipment by our partners. The strategy embeds lessons from our recent successes—including the biggest fighter jet deal in a generation with Turkey, Britain’s biggest ever warship deal, signed with Norway, and our industrial co-operation with Germany—and ensures we apply them consistently across defence to deliver British jobs and growth.
It will also improve how the Department uses data and AI insights to support decision and policymaking, and equip our staff with better tools and training to build deeper regional expertise.
It sets out how we will train and develop our defence attachés and international-facing personnel by introducing enhanced training and distinct career streams to build deeper regional expertise. We will align the allocation of places on our world-class military education courses to our international prioritisation, ensuring they will have the greatest effect. We will also leverage our international alumni networks for sustained engagement and broaden opportunities for UK personnel to access international training programmes. Our newly established Defence Section London will support the 102 foreign defence sections accredited in the UK, improving co-ordination across the overseas defence network.
We will continue to use ceremonial opportunities to showcase our values, culture and history, recognising the British military’s long and proud record of excellence.
Delivery of the strategy will be monitored through departmental governance at ministerial and official levels to ensure that every pound of public investment delivers maximum strategic value.
I am placing a copy of the defence diplomacy strategy public summary in the Library of the House, and I look forward to updating this House on progress. Attachments can be viewed online at: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2026-03-24/HCWS1440/
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