Sunday with Michael Portillo | Sunday 12th April

HMS Dragon took three weeks to reach Cyprus, where our base had been attacked and soon withdrew to port with technical difficulties. Russia's shadow fleet sails through the channel, sometimes accompanied by a Russian warship, and Britain can do nothing. Nor do we stop a steady invasion of law-breaking migrants organised by criminal gangs from landing on our shores. Should national impotence matter to us? Many populations of small countries that have never played a global role are very happy. Should we, the British, be? Joining

me again, my panel, broadcaster and writer Candice Holdsworth, and former Labour candidate and PR consultant Kevin Cray. Candice, what do you think? Lots of people are happy and having no influence in the world. I don't think that Britain should have no influence in the world. I think Britain has contributed greatly to the world. It's contributed so much in terms of art, science, law, politics, and military expertise as well. So I think that if Britain receded from the world stage, many would view it as a tragedy and they wouldn't

see it as some sort of natural transition to power going more towards America. I think that we can only also be a good ally if we have a strong military. I mean, if you look at what happened in Ukraine, they relied heavily on our expertise. As with the Iran war, many of our allies in the region were wondering, where are we? Where is Britain? I think that what has happened successfully, successive governments over the year have prioritised soft power rather than hard power. And I think over time, if you do that and you don't prioritise

that, slowly resources are drained away from things like the military.