Britain is desperately lacking the ‘resilience’ required to fight a war against a hardened enemy such as Russia, a former security adviser has warned.
In a withering appraisal of the state of the United Kingdom, Lord Darroch said the country and its people were ‘woefully under prepared’ and a soft touch.
The respected former UK National Security Adviser suggested the UK was as vulnerable as Spain, which ground to halt earlier this year following a power cut.
Conversely, the model for preparedness for conflict with Russia is its neighbour Finland, according to Lord Darroch.
The country shares a long border with Russia and exists in a perpetual state of readiness for war, with all of its citizens willing and able to contribute.
Speaking to presenter Iain Dale on the All Talk podcast, Lord Darroch blamed the UK government’s appalling record on defence spending in recent decades.
He also highlighted a failure to challenge deep-seated complacency in Britain that large-scale conflicts only happen thousands of miles from these shores.
Lord Darroch, who also served as the UK’s ambassador to the United States, said: ‘We need to spend a lot more on defence, because we haven’t spent anything like enough for the last decade or two.
‘But we are poorly prepared as a society too. The model here is Finland. The Swedes are quite good but the Finns are best in terms of how everyone has been prepared for war, what they do, civilians, in terms of an attack from Russia.
‘Russia feels much closer to them. But we should be following the Finnish example. So yes, there is reason to be concerned about this. The important point here is we are woefully underprepared.’
Lord Darroch declined to predict when Britain might find itself engaged in direct military conflict with Russia but he said the prospect was ‘less distant than it was five years ago’.
To date, UK governments have desisted from openly preparing for war with Russia so as not to cause panic.
Asked about British national resilience, Lord Darroch was scathing. He said: ‘We haven’t got it. And if you look at the recent example of that power cut in Spain, and just how much chaos that created, and realise that we will be just as vulnerable as they are, you realise how much we have to do.
‘I don’t think we are that close [to World War Three] but I do think it is less distant than it was five years ago. Whereas Russia feels very close to Finland as Russia attacked than in the 1939-45 war.
‘Do I think the threat from Russia is imminent? I don’t really. But I do think there is a building threat from Putin’s Russia.’