John Healey struggled to call what number of Royal Navy frigates the UK has as British officers are compelled to borrow a German warship to steer a NATO mission.
John Healey struggles to substantiate variety of lively warships
LBC presenter Nick Ferrari and his listeners had been shocked by a disastrous interview with Defence Secretary John Healey. Mr Healey stumbled over his phrases as denied it’s a “nationwide embarrassment” that British Royal Navy Officers might want to serve on a German warship as a result of the UK does “not have one obtainable” for a mission it was as a result of lead. The UK was set to steer a long-planned NATO mission, however will now must make use of a overseas ship after it emerged that no British was able to be deployed.
When challenged by the radio presenter and Sunday Specific Columnist Nick Ferarri, Mr Healey went on to be questioned about what number of Frigates the Royal Navy even had. He appeared “to not have the numbers at hand”, the presenter later mentioned – after Mr Healey sounded annoyed and struggled to right away affirm that quantity.
“Fills you with confidence, would not it?” Mr Ferrari acknowledged after Mr Healey went off air. The Defence Secretary did ultimately recommend that the Royal Navy had 17 Frigates and Destroyers, he was then requested “properly, the place are all of them?” by the presenter. “Each nation with every bit of its navy package has some in operation, some on deployment, some in states of readiness, some being repaired” which he mentioned was a part of the “common rhythm” of navy planning.
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Mr Ferrarri requested the place the remainder of Britain’s fleet was after suggesting the one ship the UK had prepared for deployment was the HMS Dragon. An absence of obtainable combat-ready warships has now reportedly led to officers from the Royal Navy needing to borrow a German warship to steer a NATO operation round Cyprus.
The Defence Secretary was talking to LBC after it was confirmed that UK forces would now be granted permission to board ‘Shadow Fleet’, a community of Russian-linked Oil tankers. However he confronted strong questioning from Mr Ferrari about wider defence points, centered across the long-delayed departure of the HMS Dragon to the Center East, which left British territory on Cyprus with out Naval defences.
When requested why the Ministry of Defence didn’t make one other ship obtainable for a pre-planned Nato mission, Mr Healey mentioned: “I’ve to make choices primarily based on what we’ve received.
What number of frigates and destroyers does the UK have at its disposal?
Defence Secretary John Healey can not seem to inform @NickFerrariLBC with any certainty. pic.twitter.com/h6oigoOff5
— LBC (@LBC) March 26, 2026
“We had been making ready Dragon with a view to play that flagship position, the way in which that Iran hit again in an indiscriminate, widespread means, meant I wanted to bolster the defences that we’d already had earlier than the battle broke out, put into the Center East.”
Listeners reacted with shock, after Nick Ferrarri branded it “one other Diane Abbot second” referencing the now-infamous interview the place Ms Abbot, then Labour Shadow Residence Secretary, appeared to now understand how a lot law enforcement officials value. She had been requested repeatedly about the price of a Labour coverage to recruit extra police, and struggled to elucidate the numbers in a now-viral second.
One listener, Trevor, branded the response “stumbling” and mentioned it was “unspending and underinvesting” that had led to the challenges dealing with the Navy, stating that the “peace dividend” had been “squandered by each authorities since”. The listener mentioned there was “hardly any military, hardly any navy” and that Mr Ferrari had left the defence secretary “defenceless”.
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