![L-R: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer took a swipe at the opposition leader, Kemi Badenoch, on Wednesday, February 26, at a parliamentary debate in the House of Commons. [Getty Images]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.api.sportal365.com%2Fprocess%2F%2Fsmp-images-production%2Fpulse.ng%2F27022025%2Fca75b99b-1add-41c9-b2e1-6c58a0bce345.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
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UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer took aim at Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch during Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), dismissing her defence spending concerns and joking that she had “appointed herself saviour of western civilisation.”
The exchange came after Starmer announced the UK’s plan to boost military expenditures to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2027—equivalent to £13.4 billion—while cutting the aid budget from 0.5 percent to 0.3 percent of gross national income.
Seizing on the figures, Badenoch questioned whether the defence secretary, John Healey, had contradicted Starmer by suggesting the real increase would be closer to £6 billion when adjusted for inflation.
She also pressed the prime minister on whether any of the funds would be diverted to the UK’s ongoing Chagos Islands agreement.
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In response, Starmer firmly defended his government’s decision, stating, “If you take the numbers for this financial year and then the numbers for the financial year 2027-28, that’s a £13.4 billion increase. That’s the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War.”
He added that the Chagos Islands agreement was “extremely important for our security and for US security.”
However, the most memorable moment came when Badenoch suggested that Starmer had adopted her recommendation to reallocate aid money for defence.
With a sharp retort, Starmer dismissed the claim.“I’m going to have to let the leader of the opposition down gently. She didn’t feature in my thinking at all,” he quipped, drawing laughter from lawmakers.
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“I was so busy over the weekend I didn’t even see her proposal. She has appointed herself saviour of western civilisation in a desperate search for relevance.”
Starmer’s remarks prompted amusement in the House of Commons, with opposition benches erupting into laughter.
Meanwhile, Badenoch maintained her stance, accusing Starmer of lacking clarity on the true scale of the defence budget increase.
As Starmer departs for Washington to discuss global security with US President Donald Trump, the heated parliamentary exchange underscores the growing tensions between Labour and the Conservatives over defence and foreign policy.