Households across Britain should stockpile candles, torches and water to prepare for the possible outbreak of war, the former head of Nato has said.
Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, who was also the UK defence secretary in the late 1990s, said the country needed to “move away from peacetime mode” and prepare for attacks, adding that items such as “battery operated radios” could be important if electricity was cut.
The Islay-born peer, who was Nato secretary-general from 1999 to 2003, also voiced concerns about Russia, China and North Korea.
“That combination is one that we need to fear for the future,” he said, adding that he could not envisage “anybody worse” being elected as leader of Russia than the current president, Vladimir Putin.
President Putin with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader
KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY/KOREA NEWS SERVICE VIA AP
At Wigtown Book Festival on Friday, Robertson said the UK was “under-prepared, under-insured, under attack and not safe”, adding: “It’s as simple and as brutal as that.”
He challenged the audience at the event: “Have you all got torches with live batteries in your house? Have you a radio with batteries in it and candles for when the electricity supply is cut off? Have you got containers for water, which you could produce?”
He said: “We need to get off a peacetime mode of thinking and move in an agile way. We have to accept a degree of responsibility, over time, for doing that. Having everything plugged into electricity means we are going to be blank in terms of information.”
He said the Norwegian government sent leaflets to citizens each year containing advice on what to do in the event of an attack. “Maybe we should be doing the same thing,” he said. “I think people should be genuinely aware of the risks and dangers they face. We could leave it until the lights go out and the hospitals close and the data centres melt and at that point I think the population would turn around to the political classes and say ‘hang on, why haven’t you done anything about this?’”
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The Scotsman reported that Robertson warned that the country needed to “wake up” to potential threats, which could include energy infrastructure or cyber-attacks from countries such as Russia.
He said: “Can you say it’s a coincidence that Jaguar Land Rover, Waitrose and Harrods have all just happened to be cyber-attacked by organised criminals? The UK is already under daily attack from aggressive acts, such as cyber-attack and information manipulation, causing harm to society.”
Lord Robertson pointed to Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system and said that, in contrast, the UK’S capabilities were not sufficient to protect this country from attacks, stating: “I think people think if a small country like Israel has an Iron Dome, we must have the same. But we don’t.”
The UK does not have a defence system comparable to the Israeli Iron Dome
AMIR COHEN/REUTERS
He warned about a recent show of unity between Putin, Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, and the Chinese leader President Xi. “That combination is one that we need to fear for the future. It doesn’t look like any of these personalities are likely to change in the short term,” he said.
Lord Robertson said previous assurances by Putin, whom he met nine times during his career, that he would never invade Ukraine, showed he “could not be trusted”.
“There are a lot of people who say ‘at least we know where we stand with Vladimir Putin, somebody worse could succeed him’. But I don’t think anybody worse could succeed him,” Robertson said