PM remarks to Permanent Joint Headquarters and military planners at Northwood: 20 March 2025
Source: gov.uk (2025-03-20)

Prime Minister Keir Starmer's remarks to Permanent Joint Headquarters and military planners at Northwood this afternoon.

I’m here just to say a massive thank you to you for everything that you do.

Because at this Headquarters, all the planning, the strategic thinking goes on for pretty well every operation that we run anywhere in the world. It’s an incredible thing to be responsible for. An incredible thing for our country. And of course, whatever form that operation takes – whether that’s air, sea, land, cyber, space – you are doing all of the planning for that.

And that means you are integral to what we do as a country to keep our country safe and secure.

Obviously, integral to our work with NATO and our key allies, and I’m deeply conscious of the level of that commitment and responsibility that you hold, but also that you hold it all of the time.

It is 24/7. Every day of the week, every month, every year.

You have to be absolutely on your game.

Doing your work, you are there to provide that essential work, without which nothing that needs to be done across the world operationally, could be done.

I want to acknowledge that, to say thank you to you for doing that.

To say thank you to you as the Prime Minister on behalf of the government, but also to say thank you on behalf of millions of citizens of this country who would love to stand here and have the opportunity that I have, the privilege that I have, to say thank you.

Because they know that want you are doing is keeping them safe and secure.

They know that what you are doing is making sure that we have peace through the world, particularly at the moment which is a very volatile time. There is a great deal of uncertainty.

I think people will look and are reassured to know that you are here doing what you are doing.

And that includes the support that we have been putting in for Ukraine over many years now.

I won’t go into the detail of what you have been doing from here.

But is has been hugely important to what has happened on the ground for three long years of this conflict.

And of course, on a personal level, I would like to thank the team here who facilitated, planned and made sure that my visit to Ukraine just a few weeks ago was a huge success.

None of that comes without the hard work that you put in.

Obviously today has been very much about the planning for what may come next in Ukraine.

I know it has been a busy day. But it’s really good to have had a briefing and seen some of the teams, and to go through some of the detail of what’s been planned here today.

I’m really clear in my mind, that if there is a deal and I hope there is. Everybody wants a peaceful outcome, a lasting peace, not least the Ukrainians.

But that will only be lasting, that will only be peaceful, will only leave Ukraine secure and sovereign, if there is security arrangements in place to ensure that if there is a deal, it is a defended deal. And that’s why that the work you are doing here is so important.

Last weekend, and two weekends before that, we had groupings of international political leaders coming together to provide the political alignment and the collective agreement that we need to work together to ensure that any deal that is put in place is defended.

What’s happening here is turning that political intention into reality. The concept into the plans, whether that’s in relation what might happen on the sea, air or on the ground.

Those plans are coming together, and I met some of the team to work through some of the details.

But it is vitally important that we do that work.

Because we know one thing for certain, which is a deal without anything behind it is something that Putin will breach.

We know that because it’s happened before, and I am absolutely clear in my mind that it will happen again.

Therefore, what we are doing here is vital to peace and security for Europe and our NATO allies and of course crucially for the United Kingdom.

Now this is taken as a given: we hope there will be a deal.

But what I do know if there is a deal, the time for planning is now.

It’s not after a deal is reached.

I’m well aware that the deal may be in stages, and therefore there is a different optionality, different things that have to be planned, but the more planning that we do here now through you, the better.

Because we are getting ahead of the challenge to make sure that we are as effective as possible.

And I’m hugely reassured to be here with you, to see what is going on, and to say in relation to that work, and the other work that is going on around the world, a massive thank you to all of you for everything you do.

I’m proud of your work, I know that millions of our citizens are proud, and I hope you are proud of what you are doing for our country, for our allies and for peace in our continent.

Thank you very much.