‘Labour must defend NATO’

After July 1945, Clement Attlee’s Labour Government enacted twin pillars to support our personal and national security: the NHS and NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

Yet today, more than any time since Ernie Bevin added his name to the NATO Treaty in April 1949, NATO and its founding principles are under threat. The assumptions of collective strength face challenges by decisions from the Kremlin to the White House. The furore over Greenland illustrates the urgent need to overcome these differences and maintain unity.

After 1990, when the West won what George Orwell dubbed the ‘Cold War’ with the Soviet Union, many of us keenly anticipated a ‘peace dividend’. A period of stability and security when national governments could concentrate on public services and civic renewal.

However, the Soviet dictatorship has been replaced by another, no less hostile, regime. Putin’s Russia has embraced a ruthless revanchism – seizing part of Georgia in 2008, occupying Crimea in 2014, and launching a barbaric assault on Ukraine in 2022, complete with massacres of civilians and kidnapping children.

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Our alliances are even more important in our increasingly volatile world. Russia presents a clear and present danger to British interests. This is not theoretical, but real and ongoing. Cyberattacks on UK businesses and institutions, physical sabotage by ‘freelance’ operators, industrial-scale disinformation online, and bribery of elected politicians are now commonplace.

It’s only a matter of luck that several firebombs damaged planes on the ground rather than over cities. And then there was a chemical weapons attack on Salisbury in which an innocent woman was killed.

Russian efforts may well become more concerted and reckless. Russia cutting undersea cables that carry the internet and bank transfers and energy pipelines would severely disrupt our lives at great expense.

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Putin seeks to undermine our collective morale and faith in institutions and thus weaken our resolve. Putin won’t be persuaded to stop over a cup of tea, as naïve politicians argue. Only our national and collective deterrence will keep him at bay. That is vital to our lives and the success of our Labour Government.

But each new generation must be equipped with an understanding of its importance. That’s why we are launching Labour Friends of NATO (LFN) to increase understanding among Labour MPs and party members about NATO principles and policies.

NATO’s support for ‘principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law’ align with the principles of the Labour Party, and a belief that this is achieved through our collective security.

The alliance is broadly respected by party members and in public opinion but, as times get tougher, we should make ourselves better informed and better rebut populists on our left and right.

Our initial goals include: First, short fact-finding visits to NATO’s political and military headquarters in Brussels for briefings by senior officials. Second, a residential conference for those who cannot join the visits to Brussels. Third, an annual “Ernie Bevin lecture” on NATO. Fourth, educational material to give activists the arguments to take on opponents.

Party members who share our aims and objects are welcome to join our network of like-minded individuals. We are neither a formal membership organisation with a membership fee nor an official Labour affiliate. We won’t take lines on specific policies but focus on increasing understanding of NATO.

 We are seeking a range of sponsors and donors which will be published in our annual report. Our work will be supported by a board of advisers drawn from the ranks of experienced Labour politicians, thinkers, writers, and advisers.

 We have found a warm welcome for LFN as an idea whose time has come. Our defence secretary, John Healey MP told us: “NATO is one of our party’s most enduring achievements. It has maintained peace in Europe and driven progress at home. It is needed now more than ever – which is why our Labour Government has a NATO first approach to defence.”

“Labour activists are proud of our party’s role in creating NATO and their voices will be crucial as Britain faces down rising threats. The newly formed Labour Friends of NATO group shows that Labour is the party of defence and it has my backing.”

The former Labour Defence Secretary and Secretary-General of NATO, George Robertson is backing LFN too. He told us: “The moving forces behind the creation of NATO were senior Labour figures like Ernest Bevin. Labour, even in its daftest days, never stopped supporting the Alliance and it is fitting that we have an organisation to robustly reinforce the message of Atlantic unity. The national security and safety of the British people depends on the collective defence provided by NATO. Labour needs to keep that sentiment alive. I welcome this initiative.”

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In the face of chaos, war, and global disruption, with virtually every post-war assumption being tested to destruction, this may seem like a modest contribution. Yet our argument is simple and compelling – an injury to one is an injury to all, collective security is the only true security, and NATO remains the bedrock of British interests and our security as citizens.

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