It is time for Europe and the UK to take a stand against Trump

Instead of ceding to Trump’s threats, EU governments should double down on digital and defence sovereignty, including by advancing the EU-UK defence relationship, writes historian of war Edward Burke

(Left to right) Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, French president Emmanuel Macron and British prime minister Keir Starmer following a meeting with members of the Coalition of the Willing, the countries prepared to offer support to Ukraine as efforts continued to find a peace deal to end the war with Vladimir Putin's Russia. File picture

In 1960, Edward Shackleton, son of the Anglo-Irish polar explorer, a decorated former pilot and Labour politician, complained that Britain had given up any pretence to think or act for itself when it came to defence. 

A cash-strapped Conservative government no longer wished to invest in an independent nuclear deterrent but would rely upon the United States to supply the UK with missile technology.