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| Nato chief backs defence deal between Britain and France French engineers could maintain UK nuclear warheads in agreement called 'the way forward' for straitened timesAnglo-French defence co-operation on everything from nuclear warheads to transport aircraft, helicopters and aircraft carriers would bolster the future of a cash-strapped western military alliance, Nato's secretary general has said.Anders Fogh Rasmussen threw his support behind suggestions that London and Paris were exploring a radical departure in defence policy, in seeking a deal under which French engineers maintain British nuclear warheads. David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy will hold a summit in three weeks at a UK naval base with military collaboration high on the agenda.A breakthrough between the UK and France could provide the model for sustaining Nato at a time of financial crisis and slashed defence budgets, Rasmussen told a group of journalists, including the Guardian, in Brussels. "It's very much what I said is the way forward, to identify assets and capabilities that could be shared," he said. Paris and London should pool resources on "laboratories, shared services, and maintenance", he added, in reference to proposals that Britain's 160 nuclear warheads should be transported to France for servicing by French atomic scientists and engineers.Rasmussen also warned that looming British defence budget cuts must not impair the UK's ability to be a military force beyond its borders. He said: "I feel confident the British government will make sure it primarily cuts fat while also building up muscle."With the defence secretary, Liam Fox, fighting chancellor George Osborne over the scale of defence cuts that could reach up to 20% over four years, Rasmussen said the slashed budget must not affect Britain's "deployable assets, transport and hi-tech capabilities" and added: "It's an essential part of British security policy to continue to defend its interests beyond the UK's borders." Earlier he warned that western prosperity would be imperilled if defence cuts went too far, saying: "There is a point when you're no longer cutting fat, you're cutting into the muscle and then into the bone."Cameron and President Sarkozy are to meet next month for a summit amid growing speculation about pioneering new military pacts. In recent weeks ideas about sharing nuclear submarine patrols and aircraft carriers have been floated, only to be promptly dismissed. The mutual nuclear warhead maintenance is the latest signal of attempts to seal an agreement."There's a pattern," said Tomas Valasek, a defence analyst at the Centre for European Reform. "France and the UK have the same problems, both with nuclear forces and the full spectrum of military capability. They face the dilemma of dramatic spending cuts while trying to retain European superpower status. If they don't want to reduce capabilities they need to seek savings through collaboration. That's the conclusion they're coming to."A paper last week by a leading French security analyst for the Royal United Services Institute called for far-reaching decisions on defence collaboration if both countries were serious about the "long-term strategic survival of their militaries". "The negative trends of economic austerity, defence inflation and a demanding strategic environment are rapidly converging into a downward spiral that, if nothing is done, will prove the end of the defence game for the two middle powers in Europe," wrote Etienne de Durand. "British and French military capabilities will rapidly diminish beyond repair."Valasek said that while the notion of Anglo-French nuclear co-operation might raise hackles in Washington, the Americans were more worried about declining military capacities "among some of its best allies", notably Britain."[Liam] Fox got an earful from the Pentagon in Washington recently."Before Cameron and Sarkozy stage their summit, Osborne's public spending review and the MoD's strategic defence review are to be unveiled, revealing the potential scope of budget cuts.EndNatoMilitaryFranceIan Traynorguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Robbery clue in stabbing murder A 21-year-old man who was fatally stabbed in Glasgow may have been targeted in a street robbery, police say. bbc.co.uk |
Queen's favourite Malvern Water stops production Malvern Water, which the Queen's takes wherever she travels, is to stop production, consigning one of Britain's oldest consumer brands to history. telegraph.co.uk |
Hugh Muir's Diary Just what was it that attracted you to your "voluptuous" Ukrainian nurse, Col Gaddafi? Do tell• We know him, but we do not know much about him. Fascinating then to get titbits about the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi – long-time bete noir of the west. According to a confidential US cable released by WikiLeaks, he never travels without Galyna Kolotnytska, a Ukrainian nurse described as a "voluptuous blonde". Galyna, it is said, was the only one of four Ukrainian nurses who really knew the Libyan leader's "routine". And when she was delayed by visa problems from accompanying him on a trip to the US last year, he sent a plane to get her. What is that? Good employee relations? Or, as some sources told US diplomats, an affair? We don't know. But these questions obviously need asking, so we are relying on staff and students at the London School of Economics who will enjoy a "special lecture" by Gaddafi via videolink from Tripoli on Thursday. Libya's Place in the World is the theme. This is tricky, for Gaddafi has a soft spot for the LSE. His son was a student there, and the institution has had the benefit of £1.5m from the colonel's international and development charities. Our advice to those attending: listen attentively, clap and cheer whenever he denounces the west. Don't mention nurse Galyna until the very end.• Amid the gloom at the soon to be ravaged culture department, a little light, as staff enjoyed a talk yesterday from the artist Tracey Emin. She still sees herself as a hellraiser – albeit a Tory one these days. But one shouldn't always believe the hype, she told civil servants. Returning to London from a 12-week tour of Thailand, Australia and the US, she was stopped by border staff who, recognising her as "that conceptual artist woman", demanded she open her bulging trunk of personal belongings. "I think they were expecting an explosion of unwashed clothes, dirty knickers and vodka bottles," she said. Instead, they found her garments perfectly pressed and folded. "We won't tell anyone, if you don't," the official said.• And is it right, readers ask, that Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, is to be the subject of an "unauthorised autobiography"? No; it isn't. Sonia Purnell is, in fact, writing an unauthorised biography of the Tory talisman. An unauthorised autobiography would suggest self-loathing. That's just not him. However, we mis-describe it, Purnell knows what she is doing. And perhaps she will include the issue raised in this week's Tribune, which reveals how the mayor scuppered a 4% rise for City Hall's lowest paid workers. They earn a twentieth of his wonga (from mayoral and writing duties), but times are tight. And we are all in this together.• Poor Labour Ed. Has anything gone right for Cain since he bested Abel? Not conspicuously. The new baby seems to be making things worse. Because on Saturday, Ed was filmed by the BBC talking about the young 'un's feeding arrangements. He's bottle fed, he said, pointing at a tin of formula milk, Aptamil. Which makes him look quite clued up about these things. But now he is in trouble with the breast-feeding lobby. How dare he big up bottle feeding, they say, when even "Voldemort" Lansley, the health secretary, concedes that, all things being equal, breast is best. As for endorsing a brand on the BBC, isn't that illegal?• Finally, Britain's finances are back on track, says Georgie Osborne, but how can we believe him? Hard to forget that Times piece he wrote back in 2006 saying that Ireland's economic management was brill. And can we say that was just an aberration? 'Fraid not. For that would be to ignore another interview which has now come to light; one Osborne gave that spring to Magill, an esteemed Irish current affairs magazine. Why are you here, they asked him? "To learn from your success," he said. "Not so long ago, the idea that a British politician would come to Ireland to see how to run an economy would have seemed absurd. But today, Ireland is a shining example of the art of the possible." Blame the other lot, said Georgie. "The left got us stuck debating a false choice, between lower taxes or spending on public services. Ireland proves that you can do both." Four years later and it's "Hello again Ireland. Here's a cheque for 6bn quid."Hugh Muirguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
House prices to fall amid lower mortgage approvals House prices are expected to fall further after Bank of England figures showed mortgage approvals dropped for the sixth month in a row. telegraph.co.uk |