Why Trump’s plan to meet Putin is worrying Whitehall

Concerns raised over US president’s
continued commitment to Nato military alliance

Reaction

Senior British government sources told The Times that US officials “are looking to fix
a date for the US-Russia talks either before the Nato summit or
after Trump ends his visit to Britain, which follows on
immediately”.

The UK and its Western allies had been working together to
isolate Putin since the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the Salisbury poisonings earlier this year, but
Trump “wrecked that show of unity with his sudden call for the
Russian president to be readmitted to the G7”, says Politico’s Jack Blanchard.

According to The Times, the worries of Western diplomats have
been increased by the prospect of Trump holding private talks with
Putin within days of the Nato summit.

“It would be a highly negative thing to do,” one source told the
newspaper. Another Whitehall insider said: “Everyone is perturbed
by what is going on, and is fearing for the future of the
alliance.”

A third official added: “It’s unclear if this meeting is after
or before Nato and the UK visit. Obviously after would be better
for us. It adds another dynamic to an already colourful week.”

Maintaining America’s commitment to Nato “has been Britain’s
primary concern since Trump’s election, and Theresa May made
securing a pledge of support from the president the main target of
her first trip to the White House last year”, says Blanchard.

However, at the Nato summit that followed the Prime Minister’s
visit, Trump caused anger by failing to give an expected commitment
to the alliance’s founding principle of collective defence.

One of the president’s chief objections to Nato “is the abject
failure of most of its members to meet the basic 2% defence
spending target”, says Blanchard.

The UK “is desperate to hug the US close”, he continues, and has
been urging European allies to up their spending.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has renewed that call today
in an article published in The Times. Williamson
writes: “Our continent has to take greater responsibility for its
own security. Europe cannot expect to outsource its defences to
American taxpayers.”

In a sign of the growing concern at Whitehall over defence, May
has reportedly asked Williamson to justify Britain’s role as a
“tier one” military power, throwing the Ministry of Defence’s armed
forces modernisation plan into disarray weeks before the crucial
Nato summit.

“People have their head in their hands,” one official told
the Financial Times.

A Downing Street official insisted it was “categorically untrue”
to suggest Britain’s “position as a leading defence nation is
somehow in question”.