if you look at the reality of life, it is different. yes, the foreign office has had to take its cuts. the british government has had to make savings. we had a major deficit. we had to get our public spending under control. we ve come a long way. there s more to do, but we ve come a long way. yet at the same time, we have more diplomatic posts open around the world. we re in 160 different countries. we have 270 different posts. we are very active. if you look at the capabilities, look at what we do with our armed services and diplomacy around the world it s still a remarkable story. the stuff we re doing, for example, in iraq, we re providing an isr capabilities, precision strikes, air tanking, delivery of munitions to the kurds to fight back against isil and so on. we are doing a lot in different parts of the world. i think the u.k. is still very much in business. if you look ahead at the fact we re going to spend 250 billion pounds over the next ten years on new equipment, building t
yes, that vote took place during the holiday season in august at short notice. if you look at what we re doing now in the u.s.-led coalition against isil, it s really very significant what we re doing in iraq. we re also active in syria. we re not taking part in air strikes in syria. that s indeed the case. but we re very engaged in the campaign to get rid of bashar al assad. we re engaged with our partners he s still around. reporter: to reinvigorate the training track but we re also involved in training and equipping the syrian opposition. we re helping with isr facilities in iraq. and we re doing a great deal with air tanking, with precision bombing, with trade and equip, with counter ie d especially support to the iraqi armed forces. we are significant players. so i think you should judge us by what s going on, by our action, and also by our very substantial investment programs for the future of our military capability. my experience in dealing with the british intelligence
the british parliament has done that, certainly in my memory. isn t that a sign that britain is unwilling to act like a global power? if you look at what we re doing now, i think the evidence says the opposite. yes, that vote took place during the holiday season in august at short notice. if you look at what we re doing now in the u.s.-led coalition against isil, it s really very significant what we re doing in iraq. we re also active in syria. we re not taking part in air strikes in syria. that s indeed the case. but we re very engaged in the campaign to get rid of bashar al assad. we re engaged with our partners to try to reinvigorate the political track but we re also involved in training and equipping the moderate syrian opposition. we re helping with isr facilities in iraq. and we re doing a great deal with air tanking, with precision bombing, with trade and equip, with counter ied especially support to the iraqi armed forces. we are significant players. so i think you should ju
good to talk to you. i had a chance to get my views across. tell me why i m wrong. i think this talk of strategic shrinkage or britain withdrawing from the world is seriously overstated. if you look at the reality of life, it is different. yes, you re right, the foreign office has had to take its cuts. the british government has had to make savings. we had a major deficit. we had to get our public spending under control. we ve come a long way in that direction. there s more to do, but we ve come a long way. yet at the same time, we have more diplomatic posts open around the world. we re in 160 different countries. we have 270 different posts. we are very active. if you look at the capabilities, look at what we do with our armed services and diplomacy around the world, it s still a pretty remarkable story. the stuff we re doing, for example, in iraq, where we re providing an isr capabilities, precision strikes, air tanking, delivery of munitions to the kurds to help them fight back