“The structures that have been ‘sleeping’ for a long time inside the Treaty of Lisbon – now we have activated them,” she told Uncut, a documentary for Euro News. “That means we now have a legal framework for a European Defence Union, we have a joint planning process, so that as Europeans we can also develop a structure that tells us when we are going to use our forces.”

However, Brexiteers on Twitter were not so keen on the new “Defence Union”, having campaigned against the policy for years. Also furious about the increasing power of the EU, former UKIP leadership candidate Ben Walker believes that the British armed forces have been “run down” to build up to this EU army. “Whilst Brexit itself is the topic of the day, the real detail is not,” he told Kipper Central. “For years parliament has quietly voted through legislation that binds our own military to ever closer EU integration at the behest of Civil Servants and EU directives which aren’t fully understood by MP’s and never once explained to the British Public.

“The wholesale rundown of our Armed Services is no mistake; it has always been in preparation for an EU Military.”