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World now as dangerous as in the Cold War, UK government believes

The world is now more dangerous than any time since the Cold War, Lord Cameron is expected to warn as he pushes for the UK to strengthen its defences against hostile actors.

The Foreign Secretary is planning to make his first major speech since rejoining the Government in the coming weeks, i understands.

In it he is expected to warn that governments and leaders were too complacent about the long-term dominance of democracy following the fall of the Soviet Union.

Cameron has been taking an increasingly prominent role in crafting Government policy – laying him open to attacks from Labour over his business dealings after serving as Prime Minister.

Since being appointed to the Foreign Office in November, he has given several interviews but not yet delivered a wide-ranging speech laying out his view of the world.

Allies say that Cameron has been warning about the increasing variety of global threats since before he re-entered Government, and has sought to persuade other ministers of his views after returning to the Cabinet.

A source said: “The number and nature of the threats now compared to a few decades ago, there is a lot more out there. After the Cold War there was a feeling that liberal democracy had won, and that’s obviously not been what has happened.”

The sentiment he is expected to set out in his speech echoes that expressed this month by Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, who said: “Back in the days of the Cold War there remained a sense that we were dealing with rational actors. But these new powers are far more unstable, and irrational.”

Cameron’s anticipated intervention is likely to fuel the debate over defence spending, with Conservative hawks and military leaders pushing for the UK to boost the defence budget to 2.5 per cent of GDP or higher from its current level of 2.1 per cent.

Representatives from Foreign Office did not respond to requests for comment.

The Foreign Secretary is said to have swiftly become a key figure influencing Rishi Sunak’s thinking on global security policy, alongside Mr Shapps and the Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden.

Some MPs have hailed his ability to promote British influence thanks to his high profile – one senior Tory said: “He’s brilliant, he really knows his stuff and his name opens doors around the world – he can meet whoever he wants.”

But Labour strategists are planning to ramp up political attacks on Cameron, raising concerns about his business interests between 2016 and last year including his work at the collapsed lender Greensill Capital.

An insider said: “There have obviously been questions about his time with Greensill and I know more work is going on there.” They also suggested Labour would continue to investigate his commercial dealings with overseas governments while he was out of office.

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