Exclusive:Scottish households told to prepare for attacks by stocking up on candles by former NATO defence secretary
Lord Robertson was speaking at Wigtown Book Festival, when he warned Britain needed to ‘move away from a peacetime mode’
Britain needs to "move away from a peacetime mode" and tell households to prepare for attacks by stocking up on candles and battery-operated torches and radios, former defence secretary Lord Robertson has said.
Speaking to an audience at Wigtown Book Festival on Friday, Lord Robertson, who was also secretary general of Nato between 1999 and 2004, said the UK was "under prepared, under insured, under attack and not safe".
He delivered the warning as he spoke about his Strategic Defence Review for the UK Government, published earlier this summer.
“It’s as simple and as brutal as that,” he said.
In the event, The Future of Defence, chaired by Andrew Cassell, Lord Robertson warned the country needed to “wake up” and be aware of potential action, including energy pipeline and cyber attacks, from countries such as Russia.
He asked the audience: “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?”
Lord Robertson added: “This review is not simply a matter for the armed forces of this country. Everybody has to be involved, everybody has to know what to do in an emergency.
“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.”
Lord Robertson pointed to a strategy by the Norwegian government to distribute pamphlets to citizens every year, telling them what they need to do to prepare for an attack.
“Maybe we should be doing the same thing,” he said. “I don’t think we should scare people, but I think people should be genuinely aware of the risks and dangers they face.”
He added: “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 in general would turn around to the political classes and say ‘hang on, why haven’t you done anything about this?’”
Lord Robertson also pointed to the recent show of alliance between Russian president Vladimir Putin, North Korea's Kim Jong Un and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
“That combination is one that we need to fear for the future,” he said, adding in response to a question from the audience that if the leadership of the three countries changed, there could be a major shift in global policies.
“But it doesn’t look like any of these personalities are likely to change in the short term.”
He warned of “grey zone” attacks, such as cyber attacks, pointing to recent issues faced by companies including Jaguar Land Rover and Waitrose.
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 with from aggressive acts such as cyber attack ands and information manipulation, causing harm to society. State conflict has returned to Europe, Russia has demonstrated its willingness to use military force.
“Unless we are able to rebuilt our fighting capability, this country will not be able to deter the kinds of things we might be facing.”
The ex-defence secretary warned the UK’s defence capabilities were not enough to protect the country from attacks.
“I think people think if a small country like Israel has an Iron Dome, we must have the same,” he said. “But we don’t.”
In a key speech this week, Mr Putin said it was "impossible" to believe Russia would strike a Nato country, despite drone incursions into countries including Estonia and Romania.
Lord Robertson said he believed Mr Putin “could not be trusted”, pointing to his previous assurances that he would never invade Ukraine.
He said he had met Mr Putin nine times in his career, recounting a story of when the Russian president asked him “when” Russia would be invited to join Nato.
“I told him countries aren’t invited to join Nato, they apply,” he said. “But he made it clear Russia would not stand in line behind other little countries.”
Lord Robertson added: “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.”
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