Kemi Badenoch is accused by UK PM Starmer of seeking relevance by posing as the “savior of Western civilization”

Keir Starmer of the UK has said that Kemi Badenoch had no say in the country’s military budget choice and accused her of trying to gain attention.

Keir Starmer, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, has criticized Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party, saying that she is trying to gain attention and appears to be the savior of Western civilization.

Vice President Kashim Shettima recently reacted to the harsh narratives that Badenoch, a British Nigerian citizen, has been using to harass the West African nation.

Badenoch had questioned Starmer about the increase in defense spending after the prime minister claimed it was £13.4 billion, according to the BBC.

The prime minister said that in response to President Donald Trump’s call for all European allies to enhance their defense contributions, the UK will reallocate aid monies to raise military spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027.

Keir was asked by Badenoch to clarify the precise figure, which Defense Secretary John Healey stated could be estimated at £6 billion when inflation was included in, and whether the Chagos agreement would be financed from it.

Badenoch questioned twice at Prime Minister’s Questions if any of the additional funds would be used for the multibillion-pound Chagos agreement.

The UK Prime Minister went on to say, “I believe she has positioned herself as the savior of western civilization in a desperate attempt to gain relevance.”

Badenoch asked the prime minister which of the defense increase figures—his original £13.4 billion or £6 billion, which Healey claimed was the increase “in real terms”—was accurate.

In response, Keir said: “There is a £13.4 billion increase if you compare the figures for this fiscal year with those for the fiscal year 2027–2028.”This is the biggest continuous rise in defense spending since the Cold War, and it will enable us to secure the defense and security of both Europe and our nation.

He was again pressed by Badenoch, who said: “The IFS stated today that the government is manipulating statistics in an absurd way. How does he determine that the numbers differ?

The PM then reiterated that they had already been “going through the same question over and over again” during prior PMQs, saying, “If you ask again, I’ll give the same answer again.” His backbenchers cheered loudly as he stated this.

Badenoch objected, saying that “answering the question is not the same as being patronizing.”

When Badenoch implied that Sir Keir had taken her counsel over the use of foreign aid funds for defense, he responded, “I’m going to have to gently let the leader of the opposition down. I didn’t think about her in any way. Over the weekend, I was so busy that I failed to notice her proposal.

In order “to finance a big increase in manufacturing capacity without the need to cut Britain’s vital soft power,” Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey encouraged the prime minister to support the notion of a European rearmament bank.

In response, the prime minister stated that future funding was “the subject of an ongoing discussion” with allies and that he would provide MPs with updates “as it develops.”

According to Healey, the defense boost would be more than £6 billion when inflation is taken into account.

The decision to increase UK defense spending has been “accelerated,” according to a former defense chief of staff, by President Donald Trump’s actions against Ukraine.

According to General Sir David Richards, the decision to increase defense expenditure over the next two years is a wise strategic one that “almost certainly would not” be taking place if Trump had not been elected.

He said on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, “It was going to happen, and Donald Trump’s actions have now accelerated it, and I think all of us would say not before time.”

The British Army is “very hollowed out indeed,” according to Lord Richards, who also said that the army isn’t large enough at the moment for British soldiers to serve with a rotating group of European peacekeeping troops.

Some Labor MPs are uncomfortable with the Labor government’s reversal of its election promise to increase foreign development funding to 0.7% of GDP, which has sparked questions.

Labor backbencher Diane Abbott told the PM during a PMQ that “there is also a view that taking money from aid and development to spend on armaments and tanks makes people less safe, not safer, because the desperation and poverty that so often leads to warfare is what aid and development money is supposed to counter.” Abbott also implied that the decision could increase the likelihood of conflict abroad.