内容摘要：Many of the MPs in the so-called Red Wall - those seats lost to the Conservatives in the Midlands and Northern England in 2019 and regained in 2024 – have seen an increasing challenge from Nigel Farage's Reform UK.

Many of the MPs in the so-called Red Wall - those seats lost to the Conservatives in the Midlands and Northern England in 2019 and regained in 2024 – have seen an increasing challenge from Nigel Farage's Reform UK.

He also warned that China was intent on retaking Taiwan, and Iran was likely to pursue nuclear weapons.He said the threats they posed could become particularly acute within the next three years, and that since the war in Ukraine these countries had created a "mutual transactional relationship", sharing weapons and technology.

But he said the path to war was not "inexorable" if the UK re-established credible land forces to support its strategy of deterrence to avoid war.He did not directly appeal for further funding or troops in his speech, describing his force of just over 70,000 regular troops as a "medium-sized army".But he urged the British Army to modernise quickly - including focusing on technology like Artificial Intelligence and firepower, rather than numbers.

Eventually, his ambition is for the Army to be able to destroy an enemy three times its own size.This would mean firing faster and further, he said, helped by learning the lessons from the war in Ukraine.

The general's speech at the Royal United Services Institute land warfare conference comes one week after the government launched a

to "take a fresh look" at the challenges facing the armed forces.But BBC Verify has carried out extensive searches of Home Office circulars issued across that period and found no evidence that any document containing this advice exists.

Brown - who was prime minister in 2008 - has called the allegations "a complete fabrication" and the Home Office says there "has never been any truth" to them.Social media posts referencing a memo and using either the phrase "informed choice" or a variation like "lifestyle choice" have circulated for several years with some gaining traction.

But that intensified dramatically since the start of the year, with posts repeating the claim generating tens of millions of views in the past week after Mr Musk amplified several of them on his social media platform, X.In one post, which has received over 25 million views, Mr Musk alleged that "Gordon Brown sold those little girls for votes" while reposting another user, June Slater, using words that were apparently a variation of the memo claim.