Born, Ellwood: “Central European security, Moscow monitors our gaps and is ready to take advantage of them”

According to Ellwood, the priority must remain clear: “The main objective is European security, and this is why NATO was created. Especially now that the relationship with the number one ally: the United States is seriously creaking. Because by disengaging from Europe, from the international community and from the global order, Trump does nothing but encourage the slide towards a dystopian world. America has a responsibility, which begins with its president.”

This danger reflects directly on the United Kingdom, described as a highly exposed territory due to 62 critical undersea cables, of which Ellwood warns that “62 explosions would be enough to paralyze us completely by blocking our administrative machinery on all levels”. A complex geopolitical situation in which “national security has a cost and requires structural planning which has been dramatically lacking in the UK, with direct consequences on internal politics and the imminent change of prime minister”.

The collapse of Keir Starmer’s Labor government is read by Ellwood not only as a leadership crisis, but as the failure of a ruling class without real vision, guilty of not having been able to manage the resources and public funding necessary to keep the country competitive and safe. “The lack of a clear plan, particularly on the vital front of defense funding in a period of strong global tensions, marks the fate of any prime minister. This was seen very clearly with the Labor Party, which won the 2024 general elections by saying practically nothing. And now Starmer – underlines Ellwood – is being kicked out precisely because they didn’t have a plan. Especially on the defense funding front; the constant second thoughts with cuts, U-turns and then returns to the initial decisions, have done nothing but undermine his precarious stability leading him to resign. The security of a country is a serious matter, I would say central for any Government. Not because we are in the midst of the football World Cup, and England is moving forward on its path, it means that we can sleep soundly certain that there will be no escalation of the current conflicts, with our direct involvement”.

“This chronic inability to provide concrete answers and allocate adequate investments – continues Ellwood – has left open prairies for Nigel Farage-style populist drifts”. Figures who, adds the former undersecretary, “give voice to popular anger but limit themselves to denouncing the problems without ever proposing governable solutions”. To get out of this impasse, the former undersecretary looks to virtuous models from which the United Kingdom should take inspiration, such as Finland.

“An example of resilience and resource optimization where, despite the small size of the standing armed forces, every individual in society has a role to play and the defense infrastructure can be upgraded in an instant.” Concluding, Ellwood issues a warning to whoever will be appointed as the next prime minister. “In the past it was an absolute requirement to have done your homework on what you wanted to do with the country once elected, while today this no longer happens”. The real challenge for the next occupant of Downing Street will be precisely this: “To return to governing the processes and adequately funding state security, abandoning the dangerous illusion that to lead a nation it is enough to simply win an election.” (Of Alessandro Allocca)