Sending UK ships to police Strait of Hormuz ‘a fantasy’ because Armed Forces are so depleted, former defence secretary warns

Former defense secretary Ben Wallace has warned that sending British warships to police the Strait of Hormuz is a “fantasy” because the UK’s armed forces are already exhausted.

Mr Wallace, who served as defense minister under three Conservative prime ministers, said such a move, which Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard refused to rule out on Friday, risked “leaving our troops dangerously unprotected and overstretched”.

He called on the government to stop dodging tough decisions and properly fund Britain’s defence, accusing ministers of “taking the public for fools” after current defense secretary John Healey insisted the UK was prepared to defend itself.

Sir Keir Starmer spoke to Mr Trump on Thursday night about the need for a “practical plan” to allow ships to again pass through the Bosphorus, which is blockaded by Tehran, following the announcement of a two-week conditional ceasefire in the US-Iran conflict.

This comes after Donald Trump asked NATO allies to send warships to the region within days.

Asked about the possibility of the Navy being deployed to the vital shipping route, Sir Ben, who served as defense minister from 2019 to 2023, said: Independent: “These are just dreams. They are talking about deploying troops to the Bosphorus, even though they know very well that they are cutting their operating budgets.

“There is a risk of leaving our troops dangerously unprotected and dangerously overstretched.

“John Healey needs to muster up some courage and start preparing to take on the Treasury and Number 10. [for more funding]but also start being honest with the British public.”

Arguing that Mr Healey’s claim that Britain was “ready” to defend itself was “demonstrably false”, Sir Ben added: “The problem is that they simply cannot make the tough political decisions… So we are left with utterly hollow platitudes and partisan comments from a Labor Party that thinks the solution is a diversion.”

Senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, Dr. Sidharth Kaushal said: Independent More money needs to be spent if the government wants to “close most of the under-resourced gap in defence”.

“The UK certainly still benefits from the strategic depth of alliances and some pretty impressive niche capabilities across each service. But its armed forces are in what you might call a period of transition, where we’re moving from an era of small wars to a period where large-scale conflict is a pretty credible possibility.”

“And that transition is by no means complete.”

When asked about Mr. Wallace’s warnings against spending on defense, Dr. Kaushal said: “I think it is probably true that more money needs to be spent than is currently being spent to plug many of the under-resourced gaps in defence.

“Efficiencies can be found in certain areas. And this seems to be a bet across services…

“Obviously, there are ways to find innovative solutions to the same problem without spending more money. But I still think the broad picture he paints is accurate.”

While Dr Kaushal argued that the UK could “contribute usefully to allied efforts to open the Strait”, he also warned that there were “certainly gaps” in our defense capability that “we will see exposed if the decision is made to contribute”.

He explained: “Some of the things that have historically been part of our offering in the Gulf, like mine countermeasures. We’ve had a constant presence in the mine countermeasures area for about 20 years, but we’re not doing that anymore as that capacity has gone into a temporary trough.”

“Of course, there are also questions about the readiness of the ships,” he added, pointing to the long-term maintenance of the Type 45 air defense destroyers.

Britain deployed Britain’s fourth Type 45 destroyer, HMS Dragon, to Cyprus after RAF Akrotiri was hit by a drone strike, but it took a week to leave Portsmouth as the ship needed to undergo maintenance; a delay seen as a symptom of Britain’s defense preparedness.

Sir Ben’s warnings come just days after a former senior military commander said the British army was so exhausted it could only “capture a small market town on a good day”.

General Sir Richard Barrons, one of the authors of a major defense review published by the government last year, issued a scathing assessment of the military, warning that none of the services could do “anything significant”.

But when asked at Friday’s London Defense Conference whether Britain was prepared to defend itself, Mr Healey replied: “Yes, and I think what I set out yesterday shows how ready our forces are if needed.”

The defense secretary pointed out that the UK was monitoring three Russian submarines operating in the North Atlantic, adding: “While people are rightly concerned about the conflict in the Middle East, we are keeping our eyes on Putin, we are keeping our eyes on the primary threat, and we have an armed force that has demonstrated capabilities to monitor and deter, and we have options to respond if necessary.”

Meanwhile, when asked whether the UK could send Royal Navy ships to the Strait of Hormuz, Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard told the BBC: “I cannot go through all the options at the moment. What I can say is that we have already deployed some of the Royal Navy’s autonomous mine hunting capabilities to the Middle East.”

Asked whether the UK would be prepared to deploy Royal Navy ships to the region, Mr Pollard said: “Yes, and as I mentioned earlier, we have pre-deployed some of the Royal Navy’s autonomous mine hunting capabilities to the Gulf region so that they can be used if necessary as part of this international effort.

The Ministry of Defense has been contacted for comment.