Politics: the real war

By Richard North - June 28, 2026

In yet another example of the total disconnect from reality, we have former Chief of the Defence Staff Tony Radakin sounding off about The Replacement and his need to pass a “Moscow test” for his policies if (when) he becomes prime minister.

This apparently alludes to Burnham having previous commented that new legislation must pass a “Makerfield test”, but now Radakin is saying that the UK’s next leader would need to operate “almost like a wartime prime minister” in light of global threats.

His “Moscow test” poses the questions: “What do we look like to Moscow? Do we look like a strong member of the Nato alliance? Do we look like a strong nuclear power? Do we look like a strong ally of America?”.

Because, says Radakin, “those are the elements that keep us safe”, on which basis the former defence chief is sending a message to Burnham about his priorities, saying: “It is keep our country safe, acknowledge that you have this extraordinary responsibility – so you’re almost like a wartime prime minister at the moment”.

This is, of course, a pitch for more money, with Radakin telling Burnham that “you need to invest in what really keeps us safe”, as he complains that the level of defence spending at present risked falling short on the UK’s defence commitments”.

All of this is sterling stuff and enough to guarantee uncritical headlines in the legacy media but, just for once, I will at least one of these gutless wonders would look reality in the face and start joining the dots.

As I wrote in an earlier piece, when it comes to defence funding, it is germane to note that the cost of public support for asylum seekers over the last decade has topped £20 billion, while Universal Credit payments to non-British nationals (immigrants) – households with at least one non-UK or Irish citizen – over the last three years reached £24.79 billion.

Add in other benefits (such as social housing) and you are looking at north of £50 billion as a very conservative estimate, compared with the core deficit of £28 billion in defence spending over the next four years. We are, I wrote, scrimping on our defence to pay for our own replacement and the destruction of our society.

Radakin can wibble all he likes about the need for more money on defence but he would attract a lot more sympathy (and support) if he pointed out this truth and, at the same time acknowledged that, as long as the UK was being saturated with unassimilated migrants, the threat to threat to this kingdom is not Moscow but our own government, which refuses to address this issue.

If only he and some of his colleague would have the decency and the courage to state, as have so many people in the real world, that there is no point in spending taxpayer’s hard-earned money on shiny new toys for the military, ostensibly for use against some future enemy, when the real enemy is with us, here and now, invading our shores in rubber dinghies and flying in from all quarters of the globe as legal immigrants.

This is especially pertinent at this moment when, confirming yesterday’s report. the Home Office has issued a formal statement.

It tells us that “new safe and legal routes for refugees to come to the UK will begin to rollout in the autumn, giving genuine refugees a pathway to rebuild their lives”.

This is to be facilitated by a new “community sponsorship scheme” will allow approved groups – such as your friendly neighbourhood mosque or your local high street vape shop to choose the refugees they sponsor, taking responsibility for their housing, integration and supporting them into work.

As if they haven’t already abused the system enough, with fake students using them as visa factories, trusted universities will also be able to directly sponsor refugees through a new refugee study route.

And to allow them into the labour market where your unemployment is already at a record high, a new refugee work sponsorship route is expected to open next year.

The essence of this scheme is that instead of waiting until they arrive here as illegal immigrants – then (some of them) to be awarded refugee status, all arrivals will have been given refugee status before they land on these shores.

We are advised that they will undergo “strict biometric screening, criminality checks and health assessments before arrival”, which will be really helpful if – as is indicated – initial priority will be given to Sudan and Eritrea.

Then I suppose we are expected to be reassured by the statement that “numbers will start small”, although in the same breath we are told that they will “build over time”.

What the statement doesn’t say is that the number over time is “uncapped”, limited only by the capacity of the “community sponsors” and others to nominate those who should be allowed entry. Yet, the Home Office actually suggests that this will ensure that “the routes remain controlled and sustainable”.

A model for this system apparently is Canada’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees (PSR) programme which, since 1970 has “successfully” resettled approximately 400,000 refugees.

In 2024 alone, Canada resettled more than 30,000 privately sponsored refugees but the government is now imposing overall quotas with a target for all refugee pathways (including government-assisted and protected persons) set at just over 58,000 people per year for the 2025–2027 immigration planning cycle.

According to our Home officer, the increase from the low initial numbers will occur “while public confidence is restored in Britain’s immigration system” – a forlorn hope if ever there was one, not least because the impact on the flow of illegal immigrants crossing the Channel is likely to be slight.

Those people who do not qualify for the “safe and legal” route will still come, especially since, if their asylum applications are not approved, they can always disappear as have 50,000 already done so, including 1,200 foreign national offenders.

Not a few observers have noted that this “safe and legal” schtick is straight out of the Fabian playbook, with not a scintilla of democratic consent.

Whether we like it or not, the Home Office expects the first refugee under the new system to arrival by autumn 2027. In the meantime, the dinghy people will keep on coming, and the costs – social and financial – will continue to accumulate.

This, as Pete rightly points out is Shabana Mahmood declaring war on the British people – a real war where women and children will be the casualties.

Nobody should be surprised by this latest announcement, Pete writes. Mahmood alluded to this when she set out her reforms to ILR just recently. It was right there in the fine print. This has always been the intention.

Ministers take advice from academics and NGOs who, fundamentally, believe that borders are racist, and are so profoundly stupid, they believe the boat traffic will stop if legal routes are created.

Their “solution” to illegal immigration is to essentially abolish borders – and you’re racist if you oppose them. Behind closed doors, they’re laughing at you because they know if you’re too vocal in your opposition, you’re going right to jail. Whether you realise it or not, they are at war with us.

And yet, when it comes to the likes of Radakin, they can compartmentalise their thinking, ignore the reality and use their positions in society to promote their sectional interests.

With a real war breaking out around him, he chooses to worry about his fantasy war, calling for more money, apparently unaware that it has already been spent on accommodating the invaders.