Kemi Badenoch says Tories didn't call new missile system Iron Dome - despite doing so in press release

Bungling Kemi Badenoch has claimed the Tories have not compared their promised £10billion defence system to Israel ’s Iron Dome - despite calling it that in their press release. The Tory leader endured a difficult series of interviews on Tuesday morning over the announcement, in which she was forced to defend the defence pledge. Known as the "Britannia Shield", the system will provide a network of radar, command and control systems to detect incoming strikes, as well as interceptor missiles to defend critical national infrastructure and military bases. Appearing on Times Radio, she was asked whether the so-called Britannia Shield plan was a gimmick after she insisted it was not akin to Israel’s short-range “iron dome” defence system. This comes despite the Tory press release announcing the system describing it as a 'British 'Iron Dome'. She said: “No, not at all. We have the shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge has been speaking to senior military figures. He’s a former defence procurement minister. He knows what he’s talking about, they know what they are talking about. “What we are saying is that there are different types of threats and we need to be prepared for them. It is going to stop things like drones and and missiles, but it’s not going to be exactly like the iron dome. We haven’t called it an iron dome.” Ms Badenoch endured the same issues on BBC's Today programme. Asked why newspapers had chosen to describe it as an Iron Dome, Mrs Badenoch said: “You’ll have to speak to the newspapers about that. I called it the Britannia Shield. “But we are explaining to people that missile defence systems are things that we need right now. The Iron Dome is one type, and we want people to understand what we’re talking about, we haven’t said that we are replicating that. “And the money that we are spending, a billion pounds a year over 10 years, should be able to deliver this.” The plan was also mocked by experts, with Air Marshal Greg Bagwell, Former Deputy Commander of RAF Air Command, telling told Times Radio it's not realistic to suggest a £10bn investment over 10 years in the 'Britannia Shield' will protect the entire country. He said: "You might be able to protect certain key sites, certain strategic areas. London would be an example. But of course, that's not enough. If you've got military bases all around the country, you've got power stations, you've got critical infrastructure dotted around the country, then you're really going to have to try and cover the entire area, which is challenging." RUSI Senior Research Fellow, Dr Sidharth Kaushal, said: “Any air defence system can’t provide a hermetic solution. It can only really buy time for the threat to be ended by other means. But also fundamentally, when we think of Dome's sort of multi-layered air and missile defence systems as they've been fielded in Israel but also in Ukraine , they've been fielded against a very different kind of threat than the one Britain faces.” Responding, a Labour source said: “It’s no surprise Kemi Badenoch wants to forget how the Tories hollowed out our Armed Forces . “But hoping her half baked defence promise based on fantasy numbers will be forgotten just hours after it was made shows how unserious she is about our country’s security. “The Tories can never be given responsibility for keeping Britain safe again.”