Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Hi, this is Chloe from The Observer. I want to tell you about a new podcast that my colleagues have been working on with Sky News. It's called The War Game. It's a unique audio experience that simulates what could happen if the UK was ever attacked by a foreign power. Here's Sky News' defence editor, Deborah Haynes, to tell you more about it. The world feels pretty dangerous.
We have recently uncovered a staggeringly reckless campaign of Russian sabotage in Europe. Danger is moving towards us at full speed. We should expect to see continued acts of aggression here at home. So what would happen if Britain's defences were put to the test? I asked an Oxford academic for help.
If we could simulate some kind of threat unfolding, we could create a war game where we could test ourselves and bring that to the public. We chose a team to play the British government.
We put people who've had experience of doing this for real back in the hot seat. General Sir Richard Barons, I commanded Joint Forces Command 2013 to 2016. Mark Sedwell, National Security Advisor 2017 to 20. Helena Kennedy, I'm a practitioner barrister. And some of our former politicians. Amber Rudd. Jack Straw. James Heapy. I'm Ben Wallace, former Secretary of State to Feds, and I'm going to be playing the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
So we chose a bunker, we've created some maps, we've got a Russia team, we had to go and ask them what would Russia do? When this red team gets together, and we have done this before, we run rings around the opposition, sometimes in ways that the UK doesn't imagine before the game actually starts. It's a scenario that's set in the near future at a time of mounting tensions between the UK and Russia.
This is clearly an enormous show of force. It is definitely out of the ordinary. The Russians are signalling that there may be, let's call it what it is, Prime Minister, there may be an attack. The players don't know what's coming. I think we just have to be cautious of the word attack. And it's up to them to figure out how to defend Britain. What do we do next? You want to just take a breath before you decide exactly what the next move is. Every action, there will be a reaction.
With or without their allies. We are going to follow the US policy as laid out by the president, which will look after American interests first. What we've created is the kind of war game that's genuinely tested inside government. The main difference is that nothing discussed in this version is classified. Russia knows our weaknesses. But do you?
I'm Deborah Haynes from Sky News and Tortoise. This is The War Game. They cannot bully, intimidate or strike us without serious consequences. Done. Well done, Prime Minister. That was the trailer for The War Game. Just search for The War Game wherever you listen to your podcasts. The Observer. The Observer.