Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge faced intense questioning from GB News presenter Camilla Tominey over the Conservative Party's historical record on defence spending.
The grilling came as uncertainty mounts over when Prime Minister Keir Starmer will commit to a timeline for increasing UK defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP.
Speaking on GB News, Camilla pointed out: "In real terms, defence spending fell by 22 per cent between 2009 and 10 and 2016 and 17."
She added: "I'm wondering whether the Tories actually have a leg to stand on when it comes to defence spending."
The Conservative MP responded: "Well if you go back to the end of the last Labour Government back in 2010 obviously the challenge we had then as a country is that we faced bankruptcy.
"Essentially the Chief Secretary of the Treasury, who's in charge of public finances under Labour, had left a note for us that there is no money left. So we did have to take very difficult and painful decisions.
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"The thing I would stress is that, you look at 2019 when Boris Johnson became Prime Minister, the threat position was already starting to worsen and we had the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War, when it went up to 2.3 per cent.
"It's been sustained at that level since. But we do think given what's happening, it does need to go up again."
Camilla later fumed: "But the counterargument to that is why on Earth did David Cameron spend so much on foreign aid? He could have ploughed that money into defence.
"So you did have choices back then. Many people criticised him for putting so much into foreign aid.
"He did that arguably at the expense of our own defences."
He responded: "Look, as you say, we can we can debate the past as long as we want to. I think the key thing is we did have to take some very, very difficult decisions at the time.
"I also think in the international situation we were in, there was also a bit more of a consensus and not everyone would have agreed with this.
"At the time, that aid was an important way of helping to improve our security by investing in countries, becoming less unstable abroad, etc.
"There was less of the nation-to-nation military threat that we now face today. It's a very serious threat.
"That doesn't mean I wish we hadn't spent more at the time, but we had to make those difficult decisions. And I say, but the real test here is that you spend according to the threats you face.
"And in 2019, with the threat picture starting to deteriorate, we increased spending."
He added: "The letter from Kemi Badenoch today makes clear we as a party, are willing to be serious and face up to the difficult decisions you've got to make if you get to find the money to significantly increase defence spending, as we have to deliver security for our country."
The comments come as pressure mounts on Starmer to outline specific timelines during his upcoming Washington visit.
Lord Peter Mandelson, the UK's ambassador to Washington, has reportedly urged Starmer to set a firm timeline for defence spending increases.
The visit follows Emmanuel Macron's meeting with Trump, who claimed both European leaders "haven't done anything" to end the war in Ukraine.
Starmer promised Zelensky on Saturday he would make the case for safeguarding Ukraine's sovereignty in his talks with Trump.
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The grilling came as uncertainty mounts over when Prime Minister Keir Starmer will commit to a timeline for increasing UK defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP.
Speaking on GB News, Camilla pointed out: "In real terms, defence spending fell by 22 per cent between 2009 and 10 and 2016 and 17."
She added: "I'm wondering whether the Tories actually have a leg to stand on when it comes to defence spending."
The Conservative MP responded: "Well if you go back to the end of the last Labour Government back in 2010 obviously the challenge we had then as a country is that we faced bankruptcy.
"Essentially the Chief Secretary of the Treasury, who's in charge of public finances under Labour, had left a note for us that there is no money left. So we did have to take very difficult and painful decisions.
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"The thing I would stress is that, you look at 2019 when Boris Johnson became Prime Minister, the threat position was already starting to worsen and we had the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War, when it went up to 2.3 per cent.
"It's been sustained at that level since. But we do think given what's happening, it does need to go up again."
Camilla later fumed: "But the counterargument to that is why on Earth did David Cameron spend so much on foreign aid? He could have ploughed that money into defence.
"So you did have choices back then. Many people criticised him for putting so much into foreign aid.
"He did that arguably at the expense of our own defences."
He responded: "Look, as you say, we can we can debate the past as long as we want to. I think the key thing is we did have to take some very, very difficult decisions at the time.
"I also think in the international situation we were in, there was also a bit more of a consensus and not everyone would have agreed with this.
"At the time, that aid was an important way of helping to improve our security by investing in countries, becoming less unstable abroad, etc.
"There was less of the nation-to-nation military threat that we now face today. It's a very serious threat.
"That doesn't mean I wish we hadn't spent more at the time, but we had to make those difficult decisions. And I say, but the real test here is that you spend according to the threats you face.
"And in 2019, with the threat picture starting to deteriorate, we increased spending."
He added: "The letter from Kemi Badenoch today makes clear we as a party, are willing to be serious and face up to the difficult decisions you've got to make if you get to find the money to significantly increase defence spending, as we have to deliver security for our country."
The comments come as pressure mounts on Starmer to outline specific timelines during his upcoming Washington visit.
Lord Peter Mandelson, the UK's ambassador to Washington, has reportedly urged Starmer to set a firm timeline for defence spending increases.
The visit follows Emmanuel Macron's meeting with Trump, who claimed both European leaders "haven't done anything" to end the war in Ukraine.
Starmer promised Zelensky on Saturday he would make the case for safeguarding Ukraine's sovereignty in his talks with Trump.
Find Out More...