Kemi Badenoch’s speech to the London Defence Conference

Tomorrow [Saturday 11^th April 2026], Leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch MP, will deliver a speech to the London Defence Conference.

Kemi Badenoch is expected to say:

“While the outcome of this war in Iran remains uncertain... what's clear... is that the United States is playing by a very different rule book to the one we've been used to.

Are we in the age of Donald Trump... an age that will end as soon as he leaves office... or is this President a symptom of a changing world and a permanently changed United States?

More important than either of these questions... 

What should Britain do about it?...  What can Britain do about it?

….

Many people find President Trump's actions to be an anathema.

They find his words unstatesmanlike... they find his treatment of allies to be needlessly provocative.

I have to say that some of the president's recent social media posts and comments to the press have dismayed me, too.

Maybe his successor will return to more traditional diplomacy.

But if we comfort ourselves with these ideas... we will miss the underlying lesson... that Trump's Presidency is not the start, but a continuation of a change in US outlook and behaviour. 

For decades, the United States has been complaining... at least privately... that Europe is not pulling its weight on defence.

And the ‘Special Relationship' has not always been as special as we liked to think.

Ronald Reagan invaded Grenada without consulting us….

President Biden did the same when he pulled out of Afghanistan...

President Trump may be unorthodox in how he talks to us... but there are forces at play here that are much larger than his presidency.

The mirror that he is holding up to Europe... and that we are finding it so uncomfortable to look in...is showing us that without the United States, we cannot properly defend ourselves. 

At present, European strategic autonomy is a fairytale.

The answer to the question... of whether these shifting sands are being driven by Donald Trump... is that it doesn't matter.

Britain's response... and the actions we must now take... are the same either way.

We must reassert ourselves as a serious power in the world.

Show our allies what we bring to the table... and show our enemies that we are ready to defend ourselves.

If we do not... we will have no say in whatever comes next.

…..

To do this... we must start by asking, what do we currently have to offer? What leverage do we have?

A hundred years ago this was obvious. 

Britain had the world's largest navy... world leading industry... and an Empire and influence that spanned the globe.

We still have the bravest and one of the most highly skilled armed forces in the world. 

We have intelligence capability that is universally acknowledged to be world-class. 

We have outstanding special forces and nuclear submarines, whose heroic crews have delivered a Continuous at Sea Deterrent for decades.

But beyond that, we have allowed ourselves to drift into the role of commentator with little capability. 

….

Britain has allowed its defensive capabilities and command of global trading routes to atrophy. 

….

I don't need to tell you how this happened. 

Politicians... of all colours... prioritised more immediate concerns over defence.

We chose to ignore evidence that this era of peace wouldn't go on forever. We looked away from Georgia, from Crimea... 

We quietly dealt with the UK being under hybrid attack. 

Data hacks against our hospitals and businesses … 

Spying... and even assassinations on British soil with chemical and radioactive weapons.

But then Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

It was the moment we couldn't ignore.. 

The UK, under a Conservative government, responded rapidly and unequivocally.

If it wasn't for our actions, Kyiv could now very well be under Russian control.

And... we found the money to increase defence spending.

But... for a proud nation used to stamping its influence on the world... Britain's lack of readiness for this war in Iran has been shocking. 

We weren't just unprepared militarily... with no Royal Navy warships in the Middle East for the first time in decades… 

We were strategically unprepared too.

And it happened... because we have a government that was also politically unprepared for this war…. 

distracted by its own infighting and psychodrama....

Too busy scratching itches from opposition... about the two-child benefit cap... about taxing children's education... to notice what was coming.

They have spent more time reversing their own decisions than preparing for this war.

They have been looking inward instead of outward.

….

And it's not just Labour who have their heads in the sand. 

The Lib Dems think the answer is more borrowing – when we are already paying more on debt interest than we spend on defence.

The Greens want us to leave NATO….the SNP to give up our nuclear weapons.

Reform haven't even bothered to announce who their foreign or defence spokesmen are….

They plan to spend the billions from restoring the two child benefit cap not on defence…but on cheaper beer.

Nigel Farage is still disgracefully blaming NATO for the invasion of Ukraine, while desperately sucking up to President Trump. 

….

This isn't just political point scoring.

The Conservative Party made mistakes in government. 

But this disastrous episode of our lack of preparation for war in the Gulf must act as a wakeup call. 

Not for navel gazing and finger pointing, but for action.

….

First, Britain must urgently deploy the resources that we do have to serve our national interest in this conflict.

We must show our allies and our enemies that we are willing to get our hands dirty. 

That doesn't mean that when the Trump says jump, we ask, “How high?”

It means acting decisively to protect Britain's interest.

….

If our military is strengthened, our hand is strengthened. 

We must undertake the biggest peacetime programme of rearmament in our country's history.

And to do that... we need the money to pay for it.

Keir Starmer claims he wants to spend 3% of GDP on defence.

Last year his government published a Strategic Defence Review explaining why we need it.

But here we are... nine months later, and we still haven't seen the accompanying Defence Investment Plan. It was promised last autumn... it's now April.

This is a national scandal. 

There's no plan…for rearming Britain.

And the reason there's no plan... is because they have no idea how they are going to pay for it.

….

The question is not whether Britain must rearm.  

It is what trade-offs we must make to do so. 

That is strong leadership... and that is what my new Conservative Party has been doing.

I have announced that the next Conservative government would reinstate the two-child benefit cap… and spend that money on defence. 

That will fund the largest net increase in British troops under any Prime Minister since the Second World War. We will use the money to recruit 6,000 regular soldiers and 14,000 reservists – as well as paying for their accommodation and equipment.

And we will reallocate £17 billion from Government R&D and Ed Miliband's disastrous Net Zero projects to create a new Sovereign Defence Fund.  With this we could invest in British defence start-ups, protecting our supply chains and delivering drone technology right across our armed forces…. Ensuring our army, navy and air force can fight as war is fought today.

….

I have chosen my priority… and that is to keep British families safe.

This will require many more tough decisions.

But rearming Britain cannot wait until the next Conservative Government.

So I say to the Prime Minister, let's put our party interests aside. 

Let's find the money to rearm. Let's identify the spending cuts. 

And I pledge that if we reach agreement on a joint plan, Conservatives will support those measures in Parliament on a three-line whip.

…..

Above all, we must reset our relations with the United States. Because, whether you like it or not, it is a complete delusion to imagine that we or our European neighbours could easily fend for ourselves alone, without the backing of Washington. 

….

I worry that people in our country have not properly considered what the world will look like if our adversaries win. 

We choose not to think about a world in which we are forced to trade our freedom…. for the energy and resources that China holds over us.

We dare not imagine drones hitting London and Brimingham as they strike in Kyiv every night. 

We need to wise up.

Britain is uniquely positioned in our adversaries' crosshairs. 

….

Only the Conservative Party seem to be acknowledging this threat.

Only the Conservative Party has a plan to restore Britain to a position of strength in the world. 

I would love to say in good conscience... that everything will be fine when we win the next election.

But the fact is, we can't wait that long to start putting things right...

The threat is so acute... and the world is moving so fast... that we must force the current government's hand through the weight of public opinion.”