ONE OF the hazards of politics is that it encourages us to focus on what is urgent rather than what is important.
Westminster is often consumed by the next vote, the next headline, or the next political disagreement. Yet occasionally there are moments that remind us to look beyond the daily noise.
The past week was one of them.
The chief of the Defence Staff, Air chief marshall Sir Richard Knighton, warned that Britain faces an increasingly dangerous environment. It was a measured assessment of a world that has become less stable.
As someone who served in the Army before entering politics, I found myself reflecting on how much has changed.
When I left military service, there was a widespread belief across much of the West that the broad direction of travel was positive. There was an underlying assumption that the world was becoming more interconnected and, in turn, more secure.
Today, that confidence has largely evaporated.
Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the rise of cyber warfare, the weaponisation of information, and the fragility of the international order, have all forced us to reassess assumptions that once seemed settled.
What concerns me is not simply the existence of these threats. Every generation faces its own challenges. Rather, it is the speed with which the strategic environment can change and the temptation to believe that events elsewhere have little bearing on our own lives.
History teaches precisely the opposite.
One of the lessons I took from military service is that resilience begins long before a crisis arrives. It is built through preparation, investment, strong institutions, and an understanding of the world as it is, rather than as we might wish it to be.
That requires honesty. We should neither exaggerate dangers nor ignore them. The British public are perfectly capable of understanding that we live in a more contested world.
Most conversations I have with residents in Solihull West and Shirley are, quite rightly, about the issues that affect everyday life: healthcare, schools, crime, transport, and the economy. Yet the security of our nation provides the foundation upon which all those things depend.
Perhaps that is why I have always felt that defence and national security deserve more attention than they often receive. Success in these areas is frequently invisible. The crises that do not happen rarely make the news. The threats that are deterred seldom attract headlines.
But that does not make them any less important.
The world is becoming more uncertain. The appropriate response is neither panic nor complacency, but seriousness, preparedness and a clear-eyed understanding of the challenges before us. Those qualities have served Britain well in the past, and they will be needed again in the years ahead.
