Johnson Plans Major Review of U.K.’s Defense, Foreign Policy

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(Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson pledged a full-scale review of Britain’s security, defense and foreign policy if his Conservative Party wins this month’s election, and called on international leaders meeting in London this week to modernize the way NATO is run.The prime minister wants to evaluate how a vast section of Whitehall will work post-Brexit: from the role of the armed forces and British diplomacy to the legal framework for the nation’s security forces, and how to upgrade technology to combat terrorism. The review will be led from Johnson’s office at 10 Downing Street, according to a statement on Sunday.His comments, coming days after a terror attack on London Bridge and less than two weeks before the election, are set to sharpen the debate over whether his Conservatives are better placed than the Labour Party to keep the country’s citizens safe.Johnson’s already promised to stop the automatic early release of people convicted of terror crimes after the suspect in Friday’s stabbing rampage was revealed to be out on parole. Many of the latest polls, taken before the attack, show the Tories still leading but with the gap narrowing.With NATO leaders set for what threatens to be a fractious meeting, Johnson emphasized the need for the military alliance to maintain its unity even as he plots for his country to quit the European Union.“While we are leaving the EU, we must strengthen cooperation with Europe on security,” Johnson said. “The foundation of European security since 1949 has been the NATO and, on its 70th anniversary, we need to modernize it rather than abandon it.”Johnson’s review plan also adds another leg to his party’s manifesto document. Buried on page 48, it promised to set up a commission “to look at the broader aspects of our constitution: the relationship between the Government, Parliament and the courts; the functioning of the Royal Prerogative; the role of the House of Lords; and access to justice for ordinary people.”Foreign Minister Dominic Raab went a step further than the PM in linking the need to bolster NATO with the fallout from the London Bridge attack. Calling on all NATO members to pay their way, Raab said the organization needs to forge an even stronger Transatlantic unity of purpose.“Ultimately, keeping terror off our streets and deepening our security cooperation with our NATO partners are two sides of the same coin,” Raab wrote in the Daily Telegraph.To contact the reporter on this story: James Ludden in New York at jludden@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Matthew G. Miller at mmiller144@bloomberg.net, Ros KrasnyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.