Grant Shapps: 'Bluffer' Putin's Ukraine invasion means West faces 'existential battle' for democracy

The Defence Secretary has described the UK as being in an "existential battle" for democracy and world order amid the conflict in Ukraine.

Grant Shapps told Sky News' Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that President Volodymyr Zelensky needs to be supported in the war against Russia.

"We are in a nonsense situation where the West is afraid that Russia will lose the war,” Mr Shapps said. “And it does not want Ukraine to lose it."

“By delaying what we should be doing... we are running the risk of doing exactly what President Zelensky is concerned about,” he added.

"I think this is completely nonsensical for the West. We have to understand we are in an existential battle about the way we run the world order and about democracy itself."

Speaking after Vladimir Putin visited Xi Jinping in China, Mr Shapps told Phillips: "I'm extremely concerned about this because remember these are two countries that do not believe in democracy and Putin literally murders his opponents, that's his MO, that's how he operates.

"China doesn't share our values of freedom and democracy, their entire purpose is to keep the Communist Party in place.

"So, if you have that situation, and they're trying to spread their system to the rest of the world, we must see and have our eyes wide open that that is a direct threat to our way of life.

"If we cherish our freedom, cherish our democracy, then we have to be concerned that they're linking together - and not just that Russia with Iran and using Iranian Shahed drones and the link to North Korea, buying North Korean weapons."

That was "not good for those of us who love democracy", he said.

Mr Shapps was doing the morning rounds on Sunday and also appeared on Laura Kuenssberg’s show on the BBC - where he named the Tories’ five campaign pledges.

He told Kuenssberg: “Putin, in many ways, is bluffing this war by putting his entire economy onto a war footing in a way that actually isn't sustainable for Russia over the years that he would have to continue it for.

"So, [it is] very important that the West does not blink. And when you see what's happened in Kharkiv, the second biggest city in Ukraine, it is because, I'm afraid, the civilised world took their eyes off the ball just for a little while, and we saw how long it took to get that package through the US Congress because of internal politics there, and this is the actual upshot.

"This is the result of waiting."