Bowie admits Tories 'cut too far and too quickly' on defence

The 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, overseen by Mr Cameron and then defence secretary Philip Hammond, hollowed out the armed forces at a time when Russian aggression was already mounting.

Between 2010 and 2024, Britain lost 23 regiments, taking the Army to its smallest size in centuries. 

“The reductions in the size of the army, and indeed the number of platforms we have with the Navy, we would not have cut them to the size that we have,” Mr Bowie told The Herald. “I am very proud of what we did in defence but we definitely got the balance wrong and cut too far and too quick, which we are coming to regret.”

Mr Bowie said many of the cuts were driven by economic pressures after the global financial crisis and the large deficit inherited from the last Labour government. 

“When we came into government we were committed to two overseas conflicts. We were deployed on the ground in Iraq and we were deployed on the ground in Afghanistan and we were still maintaining our other commitments around the world as well,” he said.

“We obviously came to a place quite quickly that we withdrew from Iraq and subsequently withdrew ground forces from Afghanistan. 

“That reduced the spend we had for immediate conflicts. But I think there is an acknowledgment now that between 2010 and 2015, with the Cameron and Osborne government, and then when Philip Hammond became defence secretary, we trimmed the fat, as we saw it at the time, in defence based on the threats we saw at the time and not considering the threats we would see in a few years hence.”

He added: “Most Conservatives would say that about the scale of the cuts, be that the reduction in the size of the army’s manpower, the RAF’s, or the reducing size of the Navy.

“Now, we did start to address that in our last years in government. We had a pledge to increase defence spending to 3% and we were spending more on naval infrastructure — more ships and submarines than had ever been spent in any time in history — and the RAF were getting the best equipment.”

The MP argued that successive governments have struggled to balance the desire to equip Britain with cutting-edge kit while also retaining the manpower needed to fight modern wars.

“It is the balance. We have always in Britain been proud of having the best equipment — but that comes at a cost, whereas some countries go for mass,” he said.

“It is very difficult to do both unless you are willing to commit to that at the scale of the US or China and I do not know if the British people would [like that] because it would require cuts in other areas to intensify defence spending to the extent where we could be a major military power with the best equipment and have the numbers that people expect us to have.”

He said ministers in the Cameron government had failed to anticipate the changing nature of threats. “The problem with military is you are always fighting the last war. Nobody foresaw a ground war in central Europe in the mid-2010s — that was just not on the horizon. It is difficult to look back and say ‘this is what we should have done’. The fact is we are where we are.”

Mr Bowie said there had also been progress in equipping the services during the Tory years.

“We were spending more on naval infrastructure — more ships and submarines than had ever been spent in any time in history — and the RAF were getting the best equipment,” he argued.

He insisted the party had begun to reverse course before losing office in 2024. “We did start to address that in our last years in government. We had a pledge to increase defence spending to 3%,” he said.

Mr Bowie said he worried Labour was now setting itself up for failure with the promise to spend 5% of GDP on security by 2035.

“This [Labour] government is talking the talk about evening it up but I do not know where they are going to get this money from,” he warned.

“They cannot even push through what on the face of it were absolutely necessary changes to the way the welfare system works in this country to try and bring down the overall government spend. I do not know where they are going to find this extra money to spend on defence if they are going to keep their commitments.”