THE mainstream media in Britain has asked few questions about British military involvement in the current conflict in Ukraine and fewer still about Britain’s role, along with its US mentor and Nato allies, in the calculated escalation of tension that preceded Russia’s invasion in February 2022. 

In September, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace visited Kiev to meet his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov. The meeting’s key points were reported by the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) own website on September 30: 

• Britain is one of the leading donors of military aid to Ukraine, committing £2.3 billion in 2022 — second only to the US — and then-PM Liz Truss announced that this amount would be matched or exceeded in 2023. 

• Just weeks before Wallace’s visit, Britain committed to sending more than 120 logistics vehicles in the latest tranche of donated military equipment. 

• Britain has also trained more than 27,000 members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 2015, including thousands of new recruits in Britain this year.

• The training teaches troops “key skills such as weapons handling, first aid, fieldcraft, patrol tactics, vehicle-mounted operations and trench and urban warfare, which will give them a crucial edge on the battlefield.” 

There is still a tendency on the British left, even among its otherwise solidly anti-imperialist sections, to downplay or even ridicule the pretensions of British imperialism.  

Some see it as an historical curio, brilliantly lampooned by the late-1950s early ’60s films The Mouse that Roared and The Mouse on the Moon, movies that disguised post-war Britain as “the Duchy of Grand Fenwick,” a ludicrously anachronistic semi-feudal state with global ambitions. 

Yes it is true that British imperialism is in terminal decline, but its remaining strength, while much reduced, is in the military, media and intelligence spheres. Britain has a great deal to offer its US mentor as a subcontractor of military mayhem and misinformation.

Regardless of differences over the Ukraine-Russia war, many on the British left will remember the chilling warnings given on the Andrew Marr Show in 2015 by General Sir Nicholas Houghton about the threat posed by a Jeremy Corbyn-led government abandoning the “nuclear deterrent.” 

The British armed forces know no loyalty to the legitimacy of Parliament, elected governments or the democratic process in any form. They do not even pledge allegiance to the defence of the country or its people. 

Every recruit to the British army or Royal Air Force is required to swear an oath, known as the Attestation Ceremony, of loyalty to the monarch. This currently reads:

“I swear by almighty God that I will be faithful, and bear true allegiance to his Majesty King Charles III, his heirs and successors, and that I will as in duty bound, honestly and faithfully defend his Majesty, his heirs and successors in person, crown and dignity, against all enemies, and will observe and obey all orders of His Majesty, his heirs and successors and the generals and officers set over me.” 

You don’t have to be a Leninist, although it certainly helps, to conclude that key arms of the British state stand outside all parliamentary scrutiny and democratic control.  

The military and intelligence sections of the British state are powers unto themselves. This partially explains why the British state media and its corporate echo chambers have ignored Britain’s direct intervention in the Ukrainian conflict — even when public statements are available. 

According to the MoD in July: “Up to 10,000 Ukrainians will be given training by the UK Armed Forces over the coming months. The programme is part of the UK’s enduring commitment to support Ukraine, which so far amounts to more than £2.3bn in military aid including anti-tank weapons, armoured vehicles, and artillery.”  

The MoD continued: “At military ranges in Kent, Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Patrick Sanders watched Ukrainian troops being trained in how to fight through buildings. Drawn from the Army’s basic training programme, other skills the Ukrainians are being taught include weapon handling, battlefield first aid, fieldcraft, patrol tactics and the Law of Armed Conflict.”  

The MoD briefing went on: “The training is being delivered at sites across the UK by over 1,000 soldiers from 11th Security Force Assistance Brigade, which specialises in delivering training to build the military capabilities of our allies and partners. Assault rifles have been procured for the Ukrainian soldiers and they are being issued with helmets, body armour, uniforms, and field kit to equip them for frontline operations.”  

As the Tory-run MoD acknowledged, this current programme builds on the British army’s previous Operation Orbital, which ran between 2015 and 2022. Operation Orbital saw British troops in Ukraine delivering “training to over 22,000 Ukrainians.” Just note those dates: 2015-22.  

British forces also took part in military exercises inside Ukraine well before Russia’s invasion. The MoD noted in July 2021: “Over the next few weeks soldiers from the 4th Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Scotland, will be in Ukraine taking part in Exercise Cossack Mace, in partnership with soldiers from the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).” 

The MoD enthused over its imperialist resumé: “With the AFU experiences in Eastern Ukraine and ours in Afghanistan and Iraq there is much experience and knowledge to exchange. The mutual respect built during this exercise will benefit both countries in future collaboration.” 

A further warning was that: “With Ukraine looking to improve their interaction and interoperability with Nato this bilateral exercise is a visible commitment to the Ukrainian armed forces and government, and highlights the United Kingdom’s desire to support Ukraine.” 

And support was indeed forthcoming. According to another MoD press release: “British soldiers have taken up the challenge to sort and pack 84,000 surplus helmets bound for the Ukrainian military in just two weeks. 

“The slick logistical operation saw the helmets collated and processed by Team Leidos staff employed under Defence Equipment and Support’s Logistics and Services Transformation programme. The soldiers process up to 12,000 helmets a day packing the 100 helmets into giant cardboard boxes ready for Team Leidos to transport to Poland for onward distribution to the AFU.” 

Now, the ever-sceptical Morning Star reader might ask: what is Team Leidos? Well, Leidos is a major US-based transnational company specialising in military, aerospace and arms-industry connections. You likely won’t have heard of it, but the British taxpayer is shelling out for a 13-year, £6.7bn contract to “transform the UK’s defence supply chain” to Leidos benefit.  

But, in case those pesky Russians might make completely unsubstantiated allegations of US-British military involvement, the British Baldricks had a cunning plan: “The task includes physically stripping the helmets of any British army webbing or identifying badges.” 

It’s not new. 

“In 2014 the UK supplied the Ukrainian Armed Forces with hundreds of Mk7 helmets together with earlier Mk6 and Mk6A helmets, which were used by the Ukrainian service personnel during the war in Eastern Europe.” 

“The war in Eastern Europe?” Would this be the Ukrainian civil war? The war between the Kiev regime and its own Russian-speaking Ukrainian citizens in the Donbass region? 

Whatever the current conflicting views of the British left and peace movement on the nature of this disastrous and fratricidal Ukrainian-Russian war, there must be a serious analysis of the role of the British military-industrial complex within it.  

Our main enemy is at home — and it’s waiting for us.