- Tobias Ellwood told Insider defense spending must increase because "conflict is the norm."
- That view has been echoed across Westminster, amid fears of an emboldened Russia and China.
- MPs this week advocated greater defense spending in a more dangerous world.
Conflict is "the norm" from which recent history is an unusual pause, a former defence minister said as MPs warned of a return to Cold War-era hostilities.
Pressure is building on the UK Government to increase military spending in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, amid concerns it is just the beginning of President Putin's expansionist ambitions.
On Friday, Russian troops continued to advance towards Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital on the second day of its invasion, the most significant military action in Europe for decades.
Tobias Ellwood, chairman of Parliament's defence committee and a former captain in the British Army, told Insider it was "too late" to affect the conflict by issuing sanctions.
"Nothing Britain does now sanctions-wise will alter the direction of travel," he said.
"It is all far too late in the day to make Putin think twice. He has factored in every possible reaction and it has not made him alter his objective, not made him think twice. I'm just sorry we didn't have the foresight to make that calculation ourselves."
Ellwood, who recently visited Ukraine, said the West "exhibited timidity" despite having had ample time to prepare and "get ahead of events, rather than follow them and react to them".
"This is an appalling failure of global statecraft," he said. Ellwood warned that China's relationship with Russia "emboldened" Putin to continue on his "adventurist agenda".
"We need to pluck up our courage, because if we don't stop this, where will Russia stop? Where will other regimes go? This is not just about Ukraine – there are far bigger geopolitical movements at play, which will affect our world security."
His argument echoes that of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the US government, that Russia has ambitions beyond Ukraine.
Ellwood added: "This is the bottom line: we have had three decades of relative peace… but the norm is the Cold War; the norm is conflict; the norm is dealing with state threats. That is the norm, not these last 30 years — that is why defense spending needs to increase."
That view has been shared by many in Westminster, including Mark Sedwill, a former cabinet secretary and national security advisor, who made his first speech in the House of Lords on Friday.
Sedwill told his fellow peers: "[Putin] wants to reverse the outcome of the Cold War…. We must assume and act in accordance with that."
Sedwill, a crossbench peer, said that Russia will have "priced in" much of the response before deciding to act.
He argued for NATO to be better funded by increasing defense UK contributions above the current level of two per cent of GDP, a benchmark NATO has long asked for but which many member states do not deliver.
"For too long – since the fall of the Berlin Wall – we have assumed NATO was something on which we could rely and globalization something we could take for granted. It is clear that we can't," Sedwill said.
"Other autocrats are watching. Some have territorial ambitions too. But not every authoritarian state…. will be comfortable with what they've seen with Russia trying to breach the borders of another country. Diplomacy must encompass that too."
On Thursday, Bob Seely, Conservative MP for the Isle of Wight, also called for a hike in defense spending, arguing that "the risk of direct conflict with Russia and China is growing".
He told the Commons: "Spending 2% on defence is not acceptable. To put it crudely, we need a bigger navy and a bigger air force. We need to rebuild our alliances throughout the world…
"We need foresight, strategy and resolve to fight to defend our values and the future of humanity. We should not underestimate the scale of the task nor shy away from it."