Defence expert blasts Army as ‘national disgrace’ and issues NATO warning | UK | News

A former British Army officer has slammed the state of the force as a ‘national disgrace’ – and warned it may not be able to fulful its committments to NATO.

Nicholas Drummond, a defence industry analyst, said governments had been eroding the army’s capabilities since 1990 and repeatedly cut its size.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, he said: “The state of the British Army is a national disgrace. Since 1990, successive governments have cut it in size and eroded its capabilities.

“The failure to invest does not make the Army irrelevant. It simply increases the likelihood of not being able to fulfil our NATO commitments.”

The warning comes amidst rising tensions with Russia and the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, as well as uncertainty about the USA’s committment to the defensive alliance following the re-election of Donald Trump.

Ministry of Defence figures show the army had 109,245 personnel on October 1, including 25,814 volunteer reservists.

In a speech, Defence minister Alistair Carns, a former Royal Marines colonel, warned the British Army would be wiped out within six months to a year if it experienced a rate of casualties similar to that Russia has seen in its invasion of its smaller neighbour.

He said: “In a war of scale – not a limited intervention, but one similar to Ukraine – our Army for example, on the current casualty rates, would be expended – as part of a broader multinational coalition – in six months to a year.”

Mr Carns added: “That doesn’t mean we need a bigger Army, but it does mean you need to generate depth and mass rapidly in the event of a crisis.”

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Defence Secretary John Healey had previously spoken about ‘the state of the armed forces that were inherited from the previous government’.

The spokesman said: “It’s why the Budget invested billions of pounds into defence, it’s why we’re undertaking a strategic defence review to ensure that we have the capabilities and the investment needed to defend this country.”

The Express has contacted the MoD for comment.