Grant Shapps: Let Ukraine strike Russia with our Storm Shadow missiles
The former defence secretary says Keir Starmer should authorise President Zelensky to fight Putin on his own territory
Grant Shapps
Sunday September 08 2024, 12.01am BST, The Sunday Times

Key points
Former defence secretary says UK ‘must allow’ use of missiles inside Russia
Call adds pressure on Starmer to act decisively
Shapps demands straightforward warning to Putin
Britain ‘should be willing to lead again’

In the early hours of Friday July 5, I stepped onto a makeshift stage at Roller City, a skating rink in Welwyn Garden City. This was my election count, and by then I knew what the returning officer was about to declare. After 19 years of service as the local MP, I had lost my Welwyn Hatfield seat. More than that, my heavy responsibilities as the defence secretary were about to end.

Naturally, there was zero chance that I would attempt to cast doubt on the validity of the result, or try to cling onto the democratically extinguished power. No one would even imagine that implausible scenario in Britain.

This, my friends, is democracy in action. It is what we believe in. And it is what distinguishes democracies from autocracies.

It is also the direct opposite of what dictatorial regimes think should happen. For them, clinging onto power — at all costs — is the purpose of being. To achieve this, they will “steal” elections. They will subvert the neutrality of the government. And, sometimes, they will even invade their neighbours to bolster their prowess — imposing their dictatorial rule on others.

This is precisely what happened in Ukraine in February 2022, when President Putin decided that he would illegally invade his democratic neighbour and impose his autocracy.

Visiting that war-weary country now, it is impossible not to be bowled over by the sheer level of recognition about Britain’s role in stopping Putin in his tracks. Say what you like about Boris Johnson, but there can be no doubt that he led the world against Putin’s menace in Ukraine. So much so, that when you walk through the streets of Kyiv as a Brit, it is impossible not to be moved by street stalls selling the prapor Ukrayiny (Ukrainian flag) intertwined with our own Union Jack.

Of course, back home, the result of our election means that the United Kingdom is under new management, and Ukraine’s greatest global supporter has a government with different priorities. Yet fortunately, the British people have a settled view — Putin must not prosper from his invasion — and I am confident that Sir Keir Starmer’s intention is to continue to back our friends in Ukraine.

While I was defence secretary, along with Ben Wallace before me, we took a series of what the civil service might term “forward-leaning” decisions. Many of these cannot be discussed on these pages. But by leading from the front internationally, the UK showed that a tyrant invading his neighbour wasn’t just unacceptable behaviour to be met with condemnation — actual consequences would follow too.

As a result, President Zelensky says the UK has been responsible, more than any other nation, for helping to ensure that the majority of Ukraine remains free more than two years after Russia’s main attack.

And yet, I have a concern that has grown ever larger this summer. It is now so pressing that I cannot stay quiet about it any longer. Given the way that Putin is targeting men, women and children using glide bombs frequently launched from Russia, we must now urgently approve the use of our long-range weapons into Russia.

Just last week, a devastating Russian missile attack targeted the city of Poltava, striking a hospital and surrounding residential area, killing at least 51 people and injuring more than 200, marking one of the deadliest attacks of the year.

We know that many attacks are launched from Russia itself. And yet, with the exception of our giving permission to allow UK missiles to strike Crimea, we have remained cautious about allowing our Ukrainian allies to target the source of these attacks.

It is no longer credible for us to cheer on Ukraine, invite the president to No 10, and yet fail to allow our defensive weapons to be used where they would be most effective.

It’s time to stop asking President Zelensky’s brave population to fight with one arm tied behind their backs. Instead the UK must issue a straightforward warning to Putin. If you continue to murder men, women and children with glide bombs launched from Russia, then we will lead the rest of the world to authorise our long-range missiles to take out your launchers, regardless of where they happen to be — even inside Russia.

Now is the moment to remind ourselves that what is happening in Ukraine isn’t just about them. It is about us too. It is about defending our entire way of life. Our imperfect, often frustrating system of self-government. The same system that sometimes leads to the governing party being booted out of office due to underperformance.

Putin is wrong about us. Maintaining a system with democratic winners and losers isn’t weakness. It is strength. But we can only maintain that legitimacy if we stand up for others whose democracy is under attack. And that does need raw muscle. So Britain must regain her place as the country willing to lead again. We should provide permission for our Storm Shadows to be used, and invite the French, the Americans and even our more reticent German partners to follow us. With a simple ultimatum to Putin: stop your inbound attacks on Ukraine, or we will support Ukraine’s response.

I know that freedom, democracy and elections are complete anathema to Putin. But we are stronger because we willingly accept that elections may not always go our way. He would rather impose his autocracy on Ukraine, but if you value freedom, this is not just a battle for Ukraine, it matters the free world over. Or to put it another way, this is a battle for the right to be a political loser.

Grant Shapps is the former Conservative MP for Welwyn Hatfield. He was defence secretary 2023-24

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