John Major warns US isolation strengthens Russia and China

FORMER prime minister Sir John Major has warned that democracy is under threat as the United States retreats from its global leadership role.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend, Major said that American isolationism under President Donald Trump is creating a power vacuum that benefits Russia and China.

He stated that the progress made since the Soviet Union’s collapse is being reversed, and he expects Russia to invade other countries beyond Ukraine.

“If they were to succeed with their venture in Ukraine, no doubt they’d be elsewhere before too long,” he said.

Major criticised US vice-president JD Vance’s recent comments on Europe’s record on free speech, arguing they should have been directed at Russia or China.

“In Mr Putin’s Russia, people who disagree with him disappear, or die, or flee the country, or—on a statistically unlikely level—fall out of high windows somewhere in Moscow,” he said.

He warned of rising “ugly nationalism” from the “intolerant right” and called this a “very unsettled time.”

He also suggested that global instability may require increased defence spending, adding that while it is easy to suggest spending from outside government, “we have to make a very material increase in the level of defence expenditure.”

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that the UK is committed to increasing defence spending from 2.3 per cent to 2.5 per cent of GDP but did not specify a timeline.

Major has previously called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to face trial for war crimes, signing a petition alongside former prime minister Gordon Brown shortly after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.