Why does Alastair Campbell say Britain should learn from Finland on defence and perseverance?

Alastair Campbell, discussing his book on perseverance, holds up Finland as the country that best embodies it: it has about 5 million people, the same as Scotland, and 900,000 military reservists. He argues British politics is still too focused on making people feel good, rather than confronting them with threats from Russia, Iran and an unreliable Trump.

• Rory Stewart replies that such risk-taking is easy to urge and hard to do, though Andy Burnham's push for closer European ties seems to be working.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on The Rest Is Politics (2026-10-21). Read the whole episode summary →

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