Ireland's Defence Minister Helen McEntee's bobbing and weaving in recent days suggests she might be more suited to a boxing ring than a government portfolio. Direct answers are not her thing, ducking and diving considered just fine in the bamboozling exercise that serves as government communication policy.
The UK too has faced the same disquiet. Prime Minister Andy Burnham - having evicted from No 10 anti-human rights lawyer Keir Starmer - has failed to assuage his critics, some within his own ranks, of his commitment to increase defence spending to a level of 3% of the GDP by 2030.
Enter Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Tories with a proposal that his neither original nor surprising. Her plan for raising the the £10bn required is to hit the poor, and certainly not tax the rich.
According to the Daily Sceptic, Bad Enoch wants to slash:
The Conservatives say their savings will include £4 billion through housing benefit reforms, and £3.1 billion from reimposing the two-child benefit cap. They will end the £1 billion annual funding increase for the British Business Bank and save £1 billion by ending VAT exemptions for motability vehicles.
The Labour Party cast scorn on her proposals, ridiculing the previous Tory government's commitment to Defence.
These unserious plans are hardly surprising from the same Tory Party that hollowed out our Armed Forces, shrinking the British Army to its smallest size since the Napoleonic era.
Badenoch is making a pitch to the wealthy.
The first duty of every government is defence, and the Conservatives will always put our defence first.
She seems determined to defend British citizens against Russian aggression but not defend them against the aggression of the greedy rich, better known as poverty.
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