I truly hope people in power are reading these James.

I think, with a little bravery, a willingness to stop and reset parts of Government, and a clear appreciation of the scale of the threat, there are some fundamental changes we could and should make.

1. A Cross-Party National Defence Settlement

Agree a rolling 10–15-year National Defence Settlement covering the UK’s strategic objectives, force structure, sovereign industrial capabilities, equipment priorities, resilience, reserves, skills and funding assumptions. Governments could change it, but only by explaining the strategic, military and financial consequences to Parliament.

This would replace the cycle of successive defence reviews that partially overwrite one another and would provide continuity across departments that are currently not used to working together.

2. A Permanent National Defence Council

Create a standing National Defence Council, chaired by the Prime Minister, bringing together Defence, Treasury, Cabinet Office, Business and Education, the Armed Forces, industry and resilience experts.

Its role would be to align military strategy, procurement, industrial policy, infrastructure, skills and national resilience, with annual priorities and progress reports to maintain momentum beyond ministerial reshuffles.

3. Longer-Term Defence Leadership

Key defence ministerial appointments should normally last three to four years, with early changes explained to Parliament. The same principle should apply to senior officials and programme leaders. Complex programmes cannot succeed if leadership changes every few years.

4. Proper Preparation for Ministers

Incoming Defence Ministers should receive structured training in strategy, procurement, industry, Treasury processes and military capability, alongside visits to operational units and industry. Shadow teams should receive security-cleared briefings before entering government.

5. Separate Strategy from Politics

Ministers should decide the destination, not continually redesign the vehicle. A permanent Defence Strategy and Capability Office should maintain long-term capability plans, industrial mapping, workforce forecasts and lessons learned, providing an institutional memory that survives changes of government.

6. Stable Procurement

Major programmes should begin with binding capability agreements defining outcomes, costs, timescales, risks and what is out of scope. Any changes should openly publish the cost and schedule impact, discouraging endless requirement creep.

7. Give Industry Confidence

Publish a funded ten-year Defence Industrial Demand Plan so industry can invest with confidence. Stable, multi-year production pipelines are more efficient than repeated short-term competitions.

8. Strengthen Parliamentary Continuity

Provide Parliament with a permanent Defence Programme Office to track major programmes over decades, retain expertise and hold governments to long-term commitments regardless of ministerial changes.

9. Reward Honesty

Change the culture so people are rewarded for identifying problems early, producing realistic costings and stopping failing programmes, rather than simply getting projects approved.

10. Make Defence a National Endeavour

Create a permanent Defence and National Resilience Programme linking schools, cadets, universities, employers, local government, industry, veterans and the voluntary sector. Public engagement should be treated as national infrastructure, not an occasional recruitment campaign.

The essential cultural shift is from “every new leader must announce something different” to “every leader should strengthen what works, fix what doesn’t and leave the institution stronger than they found it.”

The model is straightforward:

Cross-party strategy → stable leadership → institutional memory → funded industrial pipelines → disciplined procurement → sustained societal engagement.

My fear is that Whitehall is too busy driving the car to stop and refuel. Worse still, the last petrol station ran out years ago, everyone knows the supply chain is broken, but no one has either the authority or the appetite to fix it. So we simply keep driving, hoping momentum will carry us a little further.