BRITAIN is to double its number of troops deployed to Norway as the latest escalation in Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s “global Britain” bellicosity.

Forces are also to be committed to the so-called Arctic Sentry mission, Nato’s effort to appease US President Donald Trump over Greenland, and are to take part in major military exercises in the region later this year.

Anti-war campaigners slammed the moves as helping build a war psychosis. 

“These latest deployments prove that Britain is gearing up for a widening conflict, and are part of the government’s plans to condition the public for war,” a Stop the War spokesperson said.

“It is time to abandon the rhetoric of worldwide military deployments and instead start backing efforts to end the Ukraine conflict, rather than prolong it.”

Defence Secretary John Healey pledged a doubling of forces to 2,000 troops in Norway over the next three years during a visit to a Royal Marines unit in the country’s Arctic north.

Mr Healey, whose name has been mentioned as a possible successor to the Prime Minister in an indication of the delirium gripping Labour MPs, claimed the move was in response to a “Russian threat.”

He said: “Demands on defence are rising, and Russia poses the greatest threat to Arctic and High North security that we have seen since the Cold War.

“We see [Russian President Vladimir] Putin rapidly re-establishing military presence in the region, including reopening old Cold War bases.

“The UK is stepping up to protect the Arctic and High North – doubling the number of troops we have in Norway and scaling up joint exercises with Nato allies.”

Russians are also preying on the mind of former armed forces chief General Nick Carter, who claimed that Moscow’s saboteurs were running amok.

In a paper prepared for the Tony Blair Institute, Sir Nick said: “We’re all aware that Russia and the GRU at the tip of the spear – that’s Russia’s intelligence services – are waging a campaign of sabotage and subversion in Europe, including incursions into our Nato airspace.

“Now we’ve got to be able to impose credible costs on this campaign, because otherwise it will continue.”

The top brass hat warned: “Europe faces a growing external threat in an evolving world order at the same time as its political, fiscal and industrial systems are struggling to respond. 

“After decades of under-investment in defence, this is no longer merely inefficient – it is dangerous. Drift is no longer a neutral option.”