'Whole of British Army could fit inside Wembley'
ANDREW WOODCOCK
BRITAIN's armed forces are being so diminished that, by the time the new Wembley
Stadium is finished, the entire ranks of the British Army could be seated
inside, the shadow defence secretary Liam Fox claimed last night.
Dr Fox said the country's defence capabilities were below the point described by
Tony Blair in 1997 as "overstretched and under strength".
The 2.2 per cent of national income currently spent on defence is the
lowest level since well before the Second World War, Dr Fox said.
And he pledged a Conservative government would deliver armed forces that
"properly reflect the strategic interests and defence requirements of this
country".
Speaking to the First Defence thinktank, Dr Fox said: "This year we will spend
only 2.2 per cent of our GDP on defence. This is the smallest proportion of our
national wealth that we have spent on defending our country since 1930.
"By the time we finish the new Wembley Stadium, we will be able to seat the
ranks of the whole of the British Army inside it.
"The entire Royal Navy will be smaller than the task force we sent to the
Falklands.
"And the
RAF Museum at Hendon will have more attack aircraft than the RAF does now."
And Dr
Fox quoted Mr Blair's warnings before his election as Prime Minister in 1997
that a Tory government would let defence spending fall as low as 2.6 per cent
of GDP, leaving servicemen and women "overstretched and under strength as never
before".