Former Nato chiefs: UK is safer in the EU

Former Nato chiefs have warned leaving the EU could put UK security at risk.

Five ex-secretaries of the transatlantic alliance said pulling out would "give succour to the West's enemies".

Lord Carrington, Lord Robertson, Javier Solana, Jaap De Hoop Scheffer and Anders Fogh Rasmussen spoke of their concerns in a letter to the Daily Telegraph.

"Given the scale and range of challenges to peace and stability we collectively face, the Euro-Atlantic community needs an active and engaged United Kingdom," they said.

The concerns were echoed in a separate letter to The Times, signed by 13 former Washington officials representing every White House administration, Democrat and Republican, for the last 40 years.

They also warned Britain must now bank on its "special relationship" with America to compensate for the loss of global influence it would lose if we left the EU.

The comments are a boost to David Cameron who yesterday made a "patriotic case" for a Remain vote.

The Prime Minister said it was Nato who had been the protector of Europe's peace since the Second World War.

Boris Johnson - who gave his own speech in favour of Brexit little more than an hour after the PM's intervention - questioned the sincerity of Cameron's warnings.

He was in turn criticised for appearing to blame the EU for Russia's annexation of Crimea - leading to accusations he was an "apologist" for Russian president Vladimir Putin.