Behind him lay several weeks of fierce political debate about the direction and ambition of the UK’s Defence Investment Plan (DIP), which sets out the government’s defence investment priorities and budget for the coming years. The compromise result promises an increase of circa £15 billion but falls significantly short of the £28 billion in additional investment the UK’s Strategic Defence Review assessed as necessary. While most NATO countries need more money for defence, finding the money is difficult, particularly for Allies with limited fiscal headroom or scope to cut spending in other areas of government. To address these challenges, the UK, together with the Netherlands, Finland and Poland, proposed the Multilateral Defence Mechanism (MDM) at the NATO Summit in Ankara. Based on the few details publicly available, the MDM aims “to lend to members for joint procurement, stockpiling on members' behalf, and supply chain finance”.