Lord Cameron compares Putin to Hitler in stark speech – as Grant Shapps warns NATO members which don’t spend two per cent of GDP on defence are playing ‘Russian roulette’ with the West’s security

Lord Cameron has compared Putin to Hitler as the Foreign Secretary warns Europe is facing the same crisis as in 1938 – amid fears the world is in a ‘pre-war era’.

The former Prime Minister claimed the West needs to ‘win the argument for NATO again’ in a speech marking 75 years since the creation of the intergovernmental military alliance.

The Foreign Secretary likened the current situation with Russia to the one Britain and France faced at the 1938 Munich conference with Nazi Germany.

He said: ‘What we face today is as simple as then. We have a tyrant in Europe who is trying to redraw borders by force, and there are two choices. 

‘You can appease that approach or you can confront that approach.’

His comments echo those made by Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, who argued that NATO allies must accept we are living in a ‘a pre-war world’.

Mr Shapps alleged countries that do not spend two per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defence are playing ‘Russian roulette’ with the future of the west.

The former Prime Minister claimed the West needs to ‘win the argument for NATO again’ in a speech marking 75 years since the creation of the intergovernmental military alliance

The Foreign Secretary likened the current situation with Russia to the one Britain and France faced at the 1938 Munich conference with Nazi Germany

His comments echo those made by Defence Secretary Grant Shapps , who said in January the UK was facing a ‘pre-war world’, while General Patrick Sanders, the Chief of the General Staff, has previously referred to a ‘1937 moment’. Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin

Ukrainian service members of the 37th Marine Brigade fire a 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer toward Russian troops, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in a front line in Southern Ukraine, March 30, 2024

In his speech at an event in Brussels hosted by the Royal United Services Institute, Lord Cameron said NATO needed to demonstrate its ‘relevance’ to younger people who had not grown up with the threat of the Cold War.

He continued: ‘I think we have to win the argument for NATO all over again with a new generation, a generation that can see, yes, look at the threat that Ukraine has faced from Russia, but I think we need to go back to a more foundational argument, which is this.

‘Fundamentally, the greatness of NATO is it allows countries to choose their own future.’

He added: ‘I think that is the sort of incredibly strong, values-based argument that a younger generation can understand and see.’

Mr Shapps on Wednesday, in an article for The Telegraph, argued it was time to ‘shore up our defences’ and increase military spending.

It has been 10 years since NATO countries agreed to spend 2 per cent of GDP on defence, which 18 of the alliance’s 32 members are expected to achieve in 2024, up from just three in 2014. 

And according to Mr Shapps, this is still not enough.

‘We must look beyond that target to shore up our defences. Yet some nations are still failing to meet even the two per cent. That cannot continue. We can’t afford to play Russian roulette with our future,’ he wrote for the newspaper. 

He encouraged NATO members to ‘give urgent thought once again to the alliance’s future,’ arguing: ‘We have moved from a post-war to a pre-war world.’ 

Earlier in the day, Lord Cameron had urged allies at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers to ‘step up and spend more on defence’ in the face of Russian aggression.

And now NATO foreign ministers are discussing the prospect of an unprecedented military fund for Ukraine that would see alliance members commit $100 billion (£79.5 billion) over five years to ensure long-term support, even amid a Trump presidency.

The proposals, led by outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, would give the security bloc a more direct role in coordinating the supply of arms, ammunition and equipment to Ukraine as it fights Russia’s invasion, diplomats say. 

New proposals brought forward by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg would give the security bloc a more direct role in coordinating the supply of arms, ammunition and equipment to Ukraine as it fights Russia’s invasion

A Silver 10 Euro coin to commemorate 75 years of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) foundation is unveiled at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, 02 April 2024

Members of the 3rd Iron Tank Brigade take part in a military training as the Russia-Ukraine war continues, in the regions near the frontline in Kharkiv, Ukraine

Until now, NATO has focused on non-lethal aid for Ukraine for fears that a more hands-on approach could trigger an escalation of tensions with Russia.

Its members have provided billions of dollars in arms, but at their own discretion on a bilateral basis.

Under the new plans, NATO would be granted control of the U.S.-led ad-hoc coalition known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which coordinates the sourcing and supply of lethal weapons and military kit to Kyiv.

The move is designed in part to guard against any cut in U.S. support if Donald Trump returns to the White House, with Stoltenberg saying it would ‘shield the mechanism (of providing aid to Ukraine) against the winds of political change’.

Trump has previously railed against the U.S. provision of funding to Ukraine and said he would ‘end the war in a day’ if he were in the White House.

Last month the former US president rocked allies by saying he would encourage Russia to ‘do whatever the hell they want’ to any NATO country not meeting its financial obligations.

NATO has thus far declined to comment in detail on Stoltenberg’s proposals, but an official said foreign ministers would ‘discuss the best way to organise NATO’s support for Ukraine, to make it more powerful, predictable and enduring’. 

In 2019, French President Emmanuel Macron slammed the U.S.-led alliance – set up after World War II to face off against the Soviet Union – as suffering from a ‘brain death’.

Trump has previously railed against the U.S. provision of funding to Ukraine and said he would ‘end the war in a day’ if he were in the White House

Ukrainian servicemen practice combat exercises as Russia-Ukraine war continues in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on March 28, 2024

German Air Force eurofighters fly over the Freedom Square, demonstrating the presence of NATO’s Baltic Airspace Patrol Mission in Latvia during events dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Latvia’s membership in NATO, at the Freedom Monument in Riga, Latvia, 28 March 2024

Now, four-and-a-half years later, the alliance has grown to 32 members with the addition of Sweden and Finland after what Macron described as the ‘electroshock’ of Russia’s all-out assault in 2022.

In response, NATO has ramped up troop numbers on its eastern flank and put in place new plans to deal with any Russian attack.

‘NATO has been re-energised after the invasion of Ukraine,’ said James Black, assistant defence and security director at RAND Corporation, a US think tank.

‘In two years NATO has grown bigger, with more ambition in the scope of its activities, more forces in eastern Europe.’

The refocus on its old nemesis Moscow has given the alliance a clear sense of purpose after some questioned whether it was still needed at the end of the Cold War.

That process started back in 2014 when Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine – but it kicked up several gears with 2022’s full-scale invasion.

Since then, the security bloc’s members have sent weaponry worth tens of billions of dollars to Kyiv and there has been a steep increase in countries meeting their target of spending two percent of GDP on defence – up to an expected 20 nations this year from just three in 2014.