Sir John Major has cautioned that as the US retreats from its position as the world’s dominant power, democracy is in danger.
The former prime minister told the BBC that the “isolation” approach of US President Donald Trump was leaving a power vacuum that would give countries like China and Russia more confidence.
The gains won since the fall of the Soviet Union are now being undone, according to Sir John, who served as prime minister from 1990 to 1997. He also stated that there was “no doubt” that Russia would invade another country soon.
He claimed that the “very unsettled time” was caused by the growth of “ugly nationalism” at the same time.
His remarks coincide with European leaders’ preparations for Monday’s emergency conference on the conflict in Ukraine.
Despite worries that European countries, including Ukraine, would be excluded, US and Russian officials are scheduled to begin peace negotiations in the next few days.
Additionally, Sir John disagreed with US Vice-President JD Vance’s recent critique of Europe’s record on free expression, arguing that the comments ought to have been made in reference to the Beijing or Moscow authorities.
“It’s really strange to lecture Europe on the subject of free speech and democracy while they’re hugging [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” he said on BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend.
“In Mr Putin’s Russia, people who disagree with him disappear, or die, or flee the country, or – on a statistically unlikely level – fall out of high windows somewhere in Moscow.”
According to Sir John, the globe “may not be reshaping in a way that is congenial to the West” and was changing.
He went on: “You see a very aggressive Russia again in Ukraine, and many of the victories we won in the last several years, when the Soviet Union fell apart, are now being undone.
And they would undoubtedly be elsewhere very soon if their endeavor in Ukraine were to be successful.
“Over the past 18 years, democracy has undoubtedly experienced a slight decline.
“Unsightly nationalism is on the rise, primarily from the far right. Thus, it is an extremely tense moment.
The former Conservative leader, who oversaw a turbulent period for the UK economy, expressed empathy for the difficulties of current Chancellor Rachel Reeves, but he also suggested that increased defense spending might be necessary given the state of the world.
Saying, ‘I’d just do this and I’d spend all this money,’ is quite simple for the outside government.
It would be more accurate to state that I would acknowledge in my plans that we must prioritize raising defense spending as soon as it is deemed credible.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds stated previously on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show that the United States’ requests for the UK and Europe to contribute more to their “collective defense” in the face of “greater threats” needed to be addressed.
Although he did not provide a specific timeline, he stated that the government would lay out a plan to raise defense spending from 2.3% to 2.5% of the country’s GDP.
Reynolds insisted that there was “still a great deal of common ground” in order to minimize disagreements between the US and its partners about how to end the war in Ukraine.
In recent years, Sir John has publicly addressed a variety of topics, such as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2022.
He and Gordon Brown, another former prime minister, signed a petition shortly after the war started demanding that Putin be tried for war crimes in Ukraine in a Nuremberg-style trial.
