Keir Starmer must raise defence spending higher and faster

Mark Rutte, the former prime minister of the Netherlands, has been secretary general of Nato for less than nine months. He knew when he decided to seek the job that it would not be easy, but even the famously phlegmatic and unflappable Dutchman cannot have foreseen the intensity of events. On Monday, he gave a speech at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, better known as Chatham House.
Rutte's address was billed as preparation for the annual Nato Summit, taking place in The Hague later this month. It allowed him to sketch out an agenda, and he did so with clarity and frankness, focusing on defence spending and the immediacy of the threat posed to Nato member states by Russia and its network of allies.

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