A former US defence secretary says in blunt terms what I and many other Conservative MPs have been saying for a long time, that our defence capability is dangerously exposed. Robert Gates, who served under both George Bush and Barack Obama, told the BBC that Britain could no longer be regarded as a "full partner" following the Government's swingeing cuts. The Prime Minister disagrees, saying we have the fourth largest defence budget in the world. That may be the case, but does a budget of circa 2 per cent of GDP - it was over 5 per cent when I served in the 1980s - cut it when we have massive responsibilies around the world, dependencies that need our support, NATO commitments, trade routes to protect and of course the waters around the UK itself. Only on Wednesday the Efra Select Committee, of which I am a member, was taking evidence on food security and the two experts in this field both confirmed my view that, with an increasingly unstable world, we must maintain our defence capability to counter any threat that might arise, not least the Royal Navy, once the proud and powerful Senior Service, now reduced to 19 warships and without an aircraft carrier for some years to come. For such a senior US politician to speak out as he has is yet another warning to the Government to rethink its strategy on defence. The defence of our country is the highest priority and not to be 'redefined' to suit political preferences. I call on the Government to reprioritise its spending, stop the current round of redundancies and to wake up before it's too late. We do not want to repeat the mistake of our predecessors and on our current path we will be doing just that.