Sir Keir Starmer will use a landmark speech in Munich today to warn British voters they will risk war if they vote Reform or Green.
Speaking at the annual Munich Security Conference, the prime minister will hit out at the ‘easy answers of the extreme left and extreme right’.
Claiming that both parties are ideological extremists who are ‘soft on Russia and weak on NATO’, the PM will say they would undermine Britain’s national security and bring war to Europe if they were in power.
Drawing on language famously used on the eve of the First World War, he will argue that Reform and the Greens would bring nothing but ‘division and capitulation ‘and warn‘ the lamps ‘would go out across Europe once again’.
These ominous words were used by former British foreign secretary Sir Edward Grey on the brink of war with Germany in 1914.
‘It’s striking that the different ends of the spectrum share so much,’ Starmer will say. ‘Soft on Russia and weak on NATO — if not outright opposed.
‘[They are] determined to sacrifice the longstanding relationships that we want and need to build on the altar of their ideology. The future they offer is one of division and then capitulation. The lamps would go out across Europe once again.’
He will add: ‘We must level with the public and build consent for the decisions we will have to take to keep us all safe. Because if we don’t, the peddlers of easy answers on the extreme left and the extreme right are ready. They will offer their solutions instead.’
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper arriving at Munich Airport, Germany, ahead of the Munich Security Conference
Heads of state and government as well as foreign and defence ministers from all over the world are expected to attend the security policy talks from February 13 to 15
Starmer’s speech, which will also set out his foreign vision of bringing the UK closer to Europe and warn against becoming too close to the US, come as the PM fights for his political survival and ahead of what will be a three-way fight for the key seat of Gorton & Denton in Manchester.
If Labour loses the seat, which it won with a 13,000 majority at the last election, the prime minister could face a leadership challenge.
Reform said: ‘This is a speech from a prime minister on the verge of being hounded out of office by his own party. This is a man that refuses to find the money to increase defence spending and is making our country weaker and less secure.
‘Reform UK believes our priority should be rebuilding our armed forces, properly funding defence to at least 3.5 per cent of GDP, standing up to China and Russia and strengthening our bilateral relationships.’
Meanwhile a Green Party source told today’s Times: ‘This is a caretaker prime minister running scared, losing what’s left of his authority by going abroad to a summit on our future security and making cheap smears against the Green Party, because he knows Labour have blown it in Gorton & Denton.’
In his speech to world leaders, military chiefs and security officials who are also gathered for the three day conference, Starmer will say Britain must turn towards Europe, end its military reliance on America and be prepared to stand on its own.
He will call for a more ‘European NATO’ and a shift from ‘overdependence’ on the United States to ‘interdependence’ with Europe, forging a new path towards sovereign deterrence and hard power.
‘We are not the Britain of the Brexit years any more. Because we know that, in dangerous times, we would not take control by turning inward. We would surrender it. And I won’t let that happen,’ he will say.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (left) attends a trilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron (right) and German Chancellor Freidrich Merz at the Munich Security Conference in Munich
Sir Keir is joining approximately 50 world leaders at the summit, having already held high-level talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron
‘There is no British security without Europe and no European security without Britain. That is the lesson of history — and it is today’s reality too.’
While Starmer will confirm that the US remains an indispensable ally, he will also say:
‘I’m talking about a vision of European security and greater European autonomy that does not herald US withdrawal but answers the call for more burden-sharing in full and remakes the ties that have served us so well.’
And in what he hopes will be a rousing speech to bring Europe’s leaders closer to the UK, he will praise Europe’s latent power, describing it as a ‘sleeping giant’. noting that the continent’s combined economies ‘dwarf Russia’s, ten times over’.
He will say: ‘We have huge defence capabilities. Yet, too often, all of this has added up to less than the sum of its parts. Across Europe, fragmented industrial planning and long, drawn-out procurement mechanisms have led to gaps in some areas — and massive duplication in others.’
Sir Keir is rubbing shoulders with around 50 world leaders at the conference, where he has already met with Germany’s Friedrich Merz and France’s Emmanuel Macron.
The leaders have also met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss efforts to end the conflict between Ukraine and Russia as the four-year anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion nears.
European defence and the future of the transatlantic relationship are on the agenda at the conference, at a time when America’s commitment to NATO has been called into question.
Tensions flared over Mr Trump’s recent threat to take over Greenland from NATO partner Denmark, and insults directed at various leaders.
In a briefing on the fringes of the meeting, defence secretary John Healey insisted the prime minister was ‘re-establishing Britain’s proud role in the world and its necessary role within Europe’.
Healey also opened the door to France and Germany joining Britain’s Tempest fighter jet project, also known as GCAP.
