THE beginning of 2026 has already brought some serious questions about the future of the international, rules-based order.

Be it Greenland, Venezuela, Ukraine, or Iran, it’s clear we are entering a new global era. The events that have transpired in the early days of 2026 have demonstrated the importance of all our global alliances, in particular with Europe. Within or without the European Union, our closest neighbours should be and are our closest allies. It’s one thing playing political Punch and Judy with Europe in peacetime – it would be quite another to do so in today’s dark times. Imagine the sense of peril that could have been without the work our Labour Government has done to re-establish a mature and balanced relationship with our European neighbours. The security of our European neighbours is our security, and it is critical that, within Britain, we demonstrate national unity in the interest of protecting the United Kingdom and all our citizens.

I was, therefore, astonished that both Reform and the Conservatives are failing to take the very real threats to British security seriously. Both seem to have failed to learn from Nathan Gill – Reform’s former Welsh leader jailed for accepting Russian bribes -, with Reform parroting lines from the Kremlin instead of supporting the measures this Government is taking to keep the UK and Europe safe. The Tories – inexplicably – allowed their Shadow Attorney General to advise a sanctioned Russian oligarch in a court case against the Jersey Government, as the Government looks to divert his assets to support the Ukrainian victims of war. This week, the British Government has pledged that once peace is agreed in Ukraine - and only then - to send soldiers to be part of a Multinational Force that would support the Ukrainian army in rebuilding their defences. These efforts would help the Ukrainians deter another invasion, ensuring the country is able to defend itself. But whilst this Labour Government works to protect the security of Britian and Europe, and continues to play a vital role in international negotiations – including by making these firm commitments – to bring about an end to the war that has killed thousands of citizens, caused billions of damage, and led to a sharp spike in energy bills, Farage’s first instinct was to undermine Britain. Parroting the Kremlin line, Farage says that he’d vote against these efforts to have British soldiers support the Ukrainian army in peacetime. He continues to go out of this way to sow division which is, uncannily, so close to the explicit strategy of Russia’s GRU - their foreign military intelligence agency – to weaken Europe by ensuring we’re distracted and squabbling amongst ourselves. The smoking gun for me, however, was local Reform activists’ sudden, inexplicable interest in the frozen Russian Central Bank Assets.

These Turquoise Traitors actively oppose Western plans to use confiscated Russian funds to support Ukraine’s reconstruction. It is bewildering, given their normally blasé approach to the rules-based international order and their support for Trump in tearing it up, that they could show such great concern for the integrity of a European clearing house – let alone one based in Brussels! These Reform activists are not financial experts. I was an international banker and even I can see the wood for the trees - and the cost-benefit - when it comes to using these Russian assets to end the brutal war and the trillion dollar annual bill to the European economy associated with it. I respect the eventual decision not to go ahead with the frozen asset scheme and welcome our European allies’ commitment of a €90-billion loan instead, but the patriotic thing to do would have been to use them. Why did Reform’s supposed patriotism fail them now?

This fact brings me no joy, as the only way that we can achieve and keep the peace in Ukraine, and across the rest of the world, is by establishing a united political front that unequivocally champions British interests and security, and speaks in one voice. The rules-based international order is, at best, under considerable strain, and, at worst, in its death throes, leaving us exposed to potential barbarism and thuggery - the kind of “might is right” world we tried to leave behind at the end of the Second World War. Regardless, it is critical that politicians from all parties stand and work together to protect the UK from foreign threats, and at present, that means working to ensure that peace on the continent is achieved, and kept.