Mr Kersh said he told schoolchildren during his talks about how the conflict began, adding: “There’d be no need for a war now, we’ve got the wrong attitude”.<\/p>\n
The veteran said he “absolutely” sees comparisons between now and the period just before World War Two, and that Russia was “threatening the west”.<\/p>\n
He went on: “The top budget should be defence, there’s nothing there for anything else. That’s all there is.<\/p>\n
“Defence must come first, second, third, fourth and fifth, because only if you’re strong, you won’t be attacked.”<\/p>\n
Mr Kersh compared today’s Western leaders to Neville Chamberlain, whose 1930s appeasement of Hitler<\/a> failed, saying: “They think they’ve just got to hope and make speeches.”<\/p>\n He added: “We’ve got to either have another leader who’s more aggressive – I don’t mean start a war, but aggressive – [or] we’ve got to defend. That’s the first concern.”<\/p>\n The Ministry of Defence (MoD) recently announced a “gap year” scheme to give school and college leavers a taste of the Army, Royal Navy or RAF.<\/p>\n