Wes Streeting said the continent would one day thank the U.S. president for ‘forcing us to stand on our own two feet.’
Newly appointed British Defense Secretary Wes Streeting said on July 26 that Europe will one day thank U.S. President Donald Trump for “shaking us out of our complacency” on defense spending.
Speaking to British broadcaster Sky News, Streeting said that he genuinely believes that “when this period of history is written, Europe will thank President Trump for shaking us out of our complacency and forcing us to stand on our own two feet and end the period of overreliance on the United States for defense.”
Streeting, the former health secretary, was appointed to the defense role on July 20 by new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham after he reshuffled the Cabinet following the resignation of his predecessor, Keir Starmer.
“What he’s said about Europe isn’t unique to President Trump, the MAGA movement or the Republican Party. This has been a long-standing grain of U.S. frustration with Europe under Democratic and Republican presidents,” Streeting said, adding that “in the world we live in, it is right that we can act to secure ourselves.”
Trump has repeatedly called on the UK and other European countries to spend more on defense and become less reliant on the United States for the continent’s security.
The push for NATO allies to do more to secure their own defenses came as the United States reoriented its defense and security priorities.
Asked if he trusts Trump, Streeting said, “I don’t know him, but I do trust the United States,” adding that in his first week in the role he has had “a unique insight into just how close and integral that relationship [between the UK and the United States] is when it comes to defense and security.”
Discussing his conversation with U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Streeting said he was “clear that we’ve not supported offensive action in Iran and we won’t support offensive action [in] Iran,” but added that there are “plenty of things that we can and should do together when it comes to securing the Strait of Hormuz.”
John Healey, who now has the role of chancellor of the exchequer, the UK’s equivalent to treasury secretary, resigned his post as British defense secretary on June 11 in protest over the previous government’s reluctance to adequately fund defense spending, in a move that contributed to Starmer’s eventual downfall.
Healey announced his resignation in a highly critical public letter posted on X, in which he accused Starmer and the Treasury of being “unable” and “unwilling” to “commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats.”
Burnham, in one of his first interviews since becoming prime minister, told the BBC that he was “absolutely committed” to what was promised to NATO partners.
The UK has pledged to spend 3.5 percent of its gross domestic product on defense by 2035, in line with a new NATO target.
By Guy Birchall
