this is sir gerald howarth, the former conservative defence minister, sir sir gerald howarth.elcome to the show. let me put this to you. the nofion let me put this to you. the notion of british boots being on the ground is absurd. we have the ground is absurd. we have the smallest army since the napoleonic era, the smallest raf since its inception at the end of world war i. and so few sailors were decommissioning ships. it would take getting on for 50,000 troops to maintain any kind of presence. and we simply don't have the forces. why put british boots on the ground? >> well, good evening martin. the fact is that this is all premature talk. and of course, it would not be the united kingdom on our own. we would be joined by other countries. although, of course, as we are discovering today, there is, as there has been throughout this appalling attack on a sovereign state by the brutal regime in russia, this unprovoked attack. unfortunately, europe has been extremely slow. america was slow at first, but thanks to boris johnson, biden found some cojones to stand up to this attack.

this is sir gerald howarth, the former conservative defence minister, sir sir gerald howarth.elcome to the show. let me put this to you. the nofion let me put this to you. the notion of british boots being on the ground is absurd. we have the ground is absurd. we have the smallest army since the napoleonic era, the smallest raf since its inception at the end of world war i. and so few sailors were decommissioning ships. it would take getting on for 50,000 troops to maintain any kind of presence. and we simply don't have the forces. why put british boots on the ground? >> well, good evening martin. the fact is that this is all premature talk. and of course, it would not be the united kingdom on our own. we would be joined by other countries. although, of course, as we are discovering today, there is, as there has been throughout this appalling attack on a sovereign state by the brutal regime in russia, this unprovoked attack. unfortunately, europe has been extremely slow. america was slow at first, but thanks to boris johnson, biden found some cojones to stand up to this attack.