Defence & Foreign Affairs

Rearmament

Rearming is the only credible way to deter war. I've launched an All Party Parliamentary Group on Rearmament, with a former Chief of the Defence Staff, to make the case for Rearmament. The Government must urgently increase defence spending and concentrate its resources in Europe alongside our European allies.

Defence Select Committee

I am a member of the Defence Select Committee and the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy. In this role I oversee and scrutinise the Ministry of Defence and the British Armed Forces, using my two decades of military and geopolitical experience.

Ukraine and Russia

The House of Commons voted unanimously in favour of a motion that I brought to Parliament, which called on the Government to investigate seizing $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine’s war effort. Britain must lead the way on this. Alongside eight other Lib Dem MPs I was sanctioned by the Kremlin. Regardless of what Russia does or says, I will continue to speak out about all of these appalling crimes against humanity, in support of Ukraine, and in support of the British national interest.

Gaza

This Government has lost its legal and moral compass over the Israel-Palestine conflict. It claims to support a two-state solution but its tacit support for Israel, which has inflicted collective punishment on the Palestinian people in both Gaza and the West Bank, makes the likelihood of that happening increasingly impossible. I am pushing the Government to implement an immediate arms embargo on Israel, a trade embargo with illegal Israeli settlements and leverage its relationship with President Trump to take action.