Rishi Sunak intervened to stop Nato’s general secretary answering a question from a journalist who wanted to know what would happen to a newly-minted defence spending pledge if the Tories lost the election.
On Tuesday, Sunak put the UK’s defence industry on a “war footing” by increasing military spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030 amid Nato concerns over Russia’s war in Ukraine.
It represented a huge shift in policy as the prime minister has previously refused to make the multi-billion pound spending pledge.
Sunak, whose Tory party has a 20-point deficit to Labour in some polls ahead of an election expected this year, made the commitment during a press conference in Warsaw with Nato general secretary, Jens Stoltenberg.
During the question-and-answer session, The Guardian’s political editor Pippa Crerar asked the Nato boss: “All the polls in the UK suggest that we may end up having a different government after the election.
“How reassured are you by this really important defence commitment given by Mr Sunak?
“And if he then ends up finding himself out of office later this year, have you had discussions because of that – taking the precautionary principle – with the British opposition?”
Sunak answered a Guardian question about UK welfare reform first, then said: “It’s probably not right to draw Jens into domestic politics actually, given that wouldn’t be appropriate for him.”
The PM went on to attack Labour’s stance on defence, and made references to the party’s former leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Crerar later defended her question on X: “To be clear: this was not a question about domestic politics – it was about our long-term defence commitment.
“If, as polls suggest, the Tories lose next election then all their future plans go with them. Anybody who cares about our security will want to know what comes next.”
Shortened versions of the exchange were being shared on social media.
Sunak has come under intense pressure from military chiefs and Tory MPs to increase military spending after last month’s Budget contained no new cash for the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Last year, the government spent 2.2% of GDP on defence. Sunak said increasing that to 2.5% would mean an extra £75 billion for the MoD over the next six years.
A decade ago, Nato leaders agreed to commit 2% of GDP to defence spending. Britain has spent above that over the past decade but never higher than 2.35% in 2020.