King’s Speech

Lord Magan of Castletown Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Magan of Castletown (Con)]

My Lords, as the Chief of the General Staff has recently made starkly clear, Great Britain and NATO are very much in Putin’s crosshairs. We are on an inescapable collision course with a Russia that is on a determined war footing. Many aspects of this conflict have already been under way for quite some time. Deliberate, enhanced Russian escalation in a wider sphere is evidenced by its increasingly subversive and deliberately antagonistic activities in eastern Europe, yet the Labour Administration have been consistently weak in their responses to these ever-increasing dangers and shown a lacklustre regard to substantially beefing up defence of the realm.

Our European partners are not indulging in such dangerous and inescapable complacency. Some are already taking the gloves off in a way that should be a real spur to our own commitment and endeavours but could also, if not balanced, raise very significant concerns.

We need to talk about Germany again. Germany is launching an enormous rearmament programme and its officially declared, stated aim is now to build, in its words,

“the strongest conventional army in Europe”.

Chancellor Merz has secured a constitutional amendment to exempt defence spending from the stringent legal limits on government debt. Merz’s recent proclamation is that the scale of defence spending now has to be “whatever it takes”. It is now clear that, by the end of this decade, Germany’s conventional defence spend will significantly exceed that of the combined total of the UK and of France. Rheinmetall, Germany’s defence giant, is already responding at full bore to Chancellor Merz’s exhortations, with typical German efficiency, huge productivity and a focus on maximum quality. For understandable historical reasons, this is now ringing alarm bells in Paris and in Warsaw.

There are clearly much more disturbing forces also at work. But for us in Great Britain, that should be the spur to emulating Germany’s determined commitment to protect Europe’s freedoms and culture. Why are this present Labour Administration so timid and so indecisive? Why do this Labour Government not listen and respond with immediacy to the wise, experienced and much-respected counsel of their own distinguished noble friends in this House, such as the noble Lord, Lord Reid of Cardowan, and the noble Lord, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen?

“Action this day” surely has to be seized as the galvanising mantra. For a long time, we have been the USA’s major and most respected partner in NATO. We should welcome Germany’s even more heavyweight presence alongside us. Restoring President Trump’s confidence in NATO is of permanent importance. A NATO regalvanised under leadership determinedly funded by Great Britain—alongside a fully funded and committed Germany—will be very close to President Trump’s heart. He clearly values hugely his own British, Scottish and German familial ties; we must determinedly embrace Germany in this way. The depiction of Field Marshal Blücher in the Royal Gallery reminds us of an absolutely pivotal partnership of yesteryear. His Majesty the King’s hugely successful state visit to Germany demonstrated how warm this two-way relationship can be. We must not let Germany drift eastwards.