We have to recognise that the old concepts of fighting big tank battles on European land mass are over, and there are other, better things we should be investing in, in FCAS, in the future combat air system, in cyber, this is how warfare in the future is going to be.

At the Liaison Committee of the House of Commons (17 November 2021) in response to Tobias Ellwood (Conservative MP and chairman of the Defence Select Committee) querying a decline in British army tank deployment, cited in "WATCH: Boris Johnson claimed the days of big tank battles in Europe were over" New Statesman (25 February 2022)

At the time, Russian tanks were gathering on the Ukrainian border prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.