Britain’s military is too “run down” to lead a mooted peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, the former head of the Army has said.

Lord Dannatt said it could be “quite embarrassing” to attempt to lead such a mission given the present state of the military.

The ex-chief of the general staff said: “Our military is so run down at the present moment, numerically and as far as capability and equipment is concerned, it would potentially be quite embarrassing.”

It comes after Sir Keir Starmer said the UK would “play its part” in guarding future Ukrainian security, opening the door to a British peacekeeping force in the country.

Lord Dannatt said the Prime Minister and Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, must accept that defence is “more important” than public services and infrastructure.

“I mean, if we were to deploy 10,000 troops, each rotation for six months, that would effectively tie up 30,000 or 40,000 troops and we just haven’t got that number available,” he told the BBC’s Week In Westminster.