Editorial: ​Shock to Europe has led to belated new defence plan

​It has been a deeply worrying few weeks, with the apparent shattering of the transatlantic alliance by President Donald Trump.

​It was not merely that he humiliated President Zelensky of Ukraine in the Oval Office, but that he afterwards seemed actively to side with the aggressor in the war, President Putin of Russia.

The White House showdown and the subsequent sudden withdrawal of intelligence and other assistance to Ukraine was shameful, even if it was reinstated and even if it was shock tactics.

Having said all of that, President Trump has single-handedly achieved something that was necessary. He has forced Europe to start paying properly for its defence, something that only a handful of nations including the UK and France came close to doing – and even they did not put enough of their budgets into the military.

Also, why should America pay vast amounts for defence, which helps make Europe safe, while European countries save on their defence and spend it on luxurious benefits systems that American citizens do not enjoy?

It emerged yesterday that around 30 countries have volunteered to join the “coalition of the willing” to help deter future Russian aggression after Sir Keir Starmer hosted a weekend phone call with international leaders.

Western Europe has a combined wealth greater even than that of the world’s only superpower, the United States. It is, when taken together, vastly richer than Russia and more advanced.

President Putin and President Trump, in their own very different ways, have jolted a prosperous, complacent and even selfish part of the world into a course of action it should have pursued years ago. The UK, with its long military and naval traditions and expertise, and its geographical location on the edge of Europe, and next stop from America, is perfectly poised to play a key role in getting out of this crisis.