Do our leaders think it’s sensible to show Russia how deeply we’re involved in this war? - Patrick Mercer

There’s a rather pretty phrase in French, ‘folie à plusieurs’ that when translated into English becomes ugly and frightening - group madness. The trouble is, I think that many of our military and political leaders must be suffering from a serious dose of this dangerous psychosis.

I can quite see why our new Prime Minister wants to concentrate on the things he’s good at - and he talks to people well, impressing them with his warmth and backing that up with little giveaways that are bound to win votes. But remember the overwhelming issue that brought him to power: John Healey’s resignation due to Sir Keir Starmer failing to protect our country.

Yet, now that Mr Healey’s become Chancellor to the man who toppled Sir Keir, it’s as if the whole louring problem of deterring our foes and keeping the people safe has ceased to feature! Is the scandal of the Royal Navy’s failure to get a warship to Cyprus when Iran threatened to attack our people there or our gross neglect of recruiting soldiers for our tiny army even mentioned? I doubt it; it’s all bus tickets and benefits: bombers and bullets can be forgotten until after the snap election that now seems inevitable.

Politicians being gripped by this derangement is deeply troubling, but might be understandable on the basis that most of them have no experience of war. But when the Sunday Times carried an article on their front page last week , “UK drones used for ‘deep strikes’ in mainland Russia for first time” with one of the drone production companies even being named and located, I wondered just how far the corporate madness reached.

Then the comment from a ‘senior British defence source’ worried me even more. The source was quoted as saying Russia had previously been effective at keeping Western countries ‘nervous’ about striking Russian territory with NATO built weapons because of the potential for retaliation and escalation, but that the UK is ‘not nervous any more.’ Time for the lads in white coats to take this ‘senior source’ for a long consultation in a padded room, I reckon.

Why’s this new found confidence amongst our warriors so concerning? Well look no further than the explosion in a Bulgarian ammunition factory on 10th August. Apparently, a lorry caught fire, storage sheds were soon alight and a vast quantity of ordnance that was earmarked for Ukraine disappeared in - quite literally - a puff of smoke.

Then three days later something similar happened in an Italian ammunition factory a little way outside Rome. Yet again, the hardware that was destroyed was bound for Kiev. Now, neither incident has been officially described as sabotage, but you don’t have to be too bright a spark to see the connection and the message that our enemies are sending.

A similar message was contained in The Sunday Times piece about British drones, though. The article would not have been published without the knowledge of the Ministry of Defence; indeed, the MoD might have placed the story themselves. As one, Russian blogger wrote, “… this reads as though London is just begging for a war”.

Then Mr Lavrov, the Kremlin’s deeply experienced foreign minister underlined it, “I feel sorry for Britain… (her) direct involvement in strikes against Russia may be regarded as participation in the war - with all the consequences that entails.”

So Russia’s spelt it out: she’s ready to respond in much the same way that she did in Romania and Italy.

Then there’s that nagging phrase about the UK ‘not being nervous anymore’. Is no one in the MoD listening or watching? Moscow has escalated her offensive operations hard over the past couple of months in the face of approaching elections and an economy damaged by sanctions and Ukraine’s deep bombing operations.

It’s as if the Kremlin can no longer afford - politically, militarily and economically - the plodding tempo of the Special Military Operation and needs to finish it urgently. Suddenly, many of the self-imposed restraints - Russia’s own ‘red lines’ - are being abandoned with Ukraine’s last cluster of ports around Odessa now blockaded and precision attacks taking place against the strategically vital bridges over the Dneiper river.

Many Russian hawks have said that Mr Putin should have attacked these targets years ago along with strikes directly against NATO factories and supply lines: well now they all seem to be happening and I, for one, am not at all reassured that Britain, apparently, is ‘no longer nervous’ of attacking Russia

Last June British forces seized a Russian linked tanker in The Channel and although it took him some time to comment, Mr Putin observed that his forces would respond ‘in kind’, but on any ocean and at any time he chose.

At the moment Russia’s president is just threatening to retaliate, but it’s a stone cold fact that Russia is already building launching sites for long range drones along the Ukrainian/Belarusian border, from which British targets can more easily be struck.

Imagine this: a ship’s company held hostage in Russia; British defence sites being blitzed - what would the government do or, more accurately what could they do?

Now, I won’t repeat Britain’s utter lack of military muscle as that’s already well known by our enemies and allies alike. But it’ll take rather more than the MoD’s tinny rhetoric, “Russia should be in no doubt about the resolve of this government…”, but I’m sure that Moscow really does doubt it!

What’s wrong with our generals, admirals and ministers? Do they think it sensible to show Russia how deeply we’re involved in this war whilst not desperately seeking to improve our defences? ‘Folie à plusieurs’ seems far too elegant a way of describing their delusions.