Hammond: 'Weary' Britons Must Stick With IS War

The UK needs to be "realistic" that the battle against Islamic State will last many years with new organisations mushrooming as others are destroyed, the Foreign Secretary has warned.

Phillip Hammond also admitted the Government had to tackle a "weariness" among British voters who are less willing to engage in foreign matters following the protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Speaking at an event at London's Chatham House, Mr Hammond said: "It can take years. What does victory against ISIL look like?

"We have to be realistic … I have no doubt that we will see organisations collapsing, weakening and others growing. This will take a long, long time."

He argued that "fragmenting" the organisation was much easier than "destroying the underlying ideology".

Mr Hammond added there had been a "change in public mood" in both the US and UK, partly because of a "weariness as a result of long engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan", but he insisted that Britain must not disengage.

The comments came after Ashton Carter, the US Defence Secretary, warned that Britain's role in world affairs would be diminished if it failed to meet NATO spending targets of 2% of national income.

Asked if Mr Carter was talking "nonsense," Mr Hammond said: "No I think I agree with everything that he has said there.

"It's the unspoken undertone that I think I would disagree with. We are about to have a strategic defence and security review (SDSR) and a comprehensive spending review."

He said the US were lobbying increasingly openly on the issue, and were a "very legitimate commentator" in that process.

"But I think he would be getting ahead of himself if he were to assume an outcome from a process that hasn't yet started," he added.

International military support for fighters battling the jihadi force will be reviewed at the meeting of foreign ministers in Paris.

French foreign minister Laurent Fabius is hosting the talks, which will also focus on ways to cut off IS finances and stop its influence from spreading.

Representatives from 22 countries involved in the global coalition formed to degrade and destroy the terror group will attend, including Iraqi prime minister Haider al Abadi.