A top team of former government ministers and military and security chiefs have taken part in a wargame that simulates a Russian attack on the UK for a new podcast series announced on Wednesday by Sky News and Tortoise Media.
Among the line-up, Sir Ben Wallace, a former Conservative defence secretary, plays the prime minister; Jack Straw, a former senior Labour politician, resumes his old job as foreign secretary; Amber Rudd steps back into her former role as home secretary and Jim Murphy, a secretary of state for Scotland under Gordon Brown, takes the position of chancellor.
The defence secretary is played by James Heappey, a former armed forces minister.
Lord Mark Sedwill is the national security adviser – a position he held for real under both Theresa May and Boris Johnson, while General Sir Richard Barrons, one of the leaders of a major defence review that is due to be published in the coming weeks, plays the role of chief of the defence staff, the UK’s top military officer.
Baroness Helena Kennedy, a barrister and expert on human rights law, appears as attorney general, while Lieutenant General Sir David Capewell resumes his former role as chief of joint operations, the UK’s warfighting commander.
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The scenario is designed to test Britain’s defences and national resilience at a time of mounting tensions with Russia.
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It also explores the reliability – or otherwise – of key allies like the United States in a crisis.
Asked why he wanted to take part in the project, Sir Ben said: “I think it’s really important that we demonstrate to the public how government makes decisions in real crises and emergencies and let them understand and hopefully be reassured that actually there is a process and it’s at that moment in time that no matter what people’s party politics are, people pull together for the right reasons.”
Launching on 10 June, the five-part podcast series will give listeners the chance to experience the kind of wargame that is genuinely tested inside government.
The only difference with this version is that nothing discussed is classified.
The tagline for the series is: “Russia knows our weaknesses – but do you?”
Written and presented by me, The Wargame pitches a fictional British government, led by Sir Ben, against an imagined Kremlin in a high-stakes contest that draws on the real-life knowledge and experience of the cast.
The series begins a few months in the future, with the prime minister and his top team assembling for a COBRA emergency meeting as tensions escalate with Moscow.
Keir Giles, a Russia expert, author and senior consulting fellow at the Chatham House think tank, is playing the part of the Russian president.
He leads the Russia team, made up of fellow experts.
The British side has little idea about what is about to unfold, but they are about to find out.
“Ordinarily when this red team gets together, and we have done this before, we run rings around the opposition, partly because Russia has the initiative, partly because Russia has the tools, partly because Russia has the will and the determination to cause damage sometimes in ways that the opposition – whether it’s the UK, NATO, another victim – doesn’t imagine before the game actually starts,” Mr Giles said.
The scenario was devised and overseen by Rob Johnson, director of the Changing Character of War Centre at Oxford University and a former director of net assessment and challenge at the Ministry of Defence.
“We are trying to raise awareness through this war game to say, look, let’s have a look at what might happen,” he said.
“Unlikely and low probability though it is, so that we can start to put some measures in place and remind ourselves about how we used to do it – use history as our weapon, if you like, in that regard.”
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He describes the events in his game as very low likelihood but high impact. That means a low chance of it happening but catastrophic consequences if it did.
The Wargame is an exclusive collaboration between Sky News and Tortoise Media, now the new owners of The Observer.
The first two episodes will premiere at 00.01 on 10 June across all Sky News platforms. Episodes three and four will follow on Tuesday 17 June, with the final episode airing Tuesday 24 June.
The release comes as the UK government prepares to publish its Strategic Defence Review and as Britain and its allies prepare to meet for a major NATO summit next month.
