Former NATO Secretary General Says UK Should Be Seriously Worried About Biological Warfare

He condemned protestors who had gathered outside the Govan shipyards and later warned that our adversaries are seeking ways to undermine democracy.

Lord Robertson said: “Our democracy is very precious to us, and sometimes the easiest way for adversaries to attack us is to undermine our democratic structures.”

Speaking at Wigtown Book Festival on Friday afternoon about his work on the 2025 Strategic Defence Review, he also addressed the use of weapons of mass destruction: “Chemical and biological warfare is something that that in the shorter term, I think we should be all seriously worried about.

“There are at least a dozen laboratories in the world working on viruses that can discriminate between people. And that is going on all the time with virtually no international sanctions.”

Cyber attacks

Turning to recent cyber attacks at home and overseas Lord Robertson said: “We don't know who it was, and the Russians and other adversaries can easily claim it's organised crime.

“But can we imagine that it is just all coincidence that these things are happening, the sabotage is happening all across Europe?

“We've got to worry about the grey zone attacks. It'll be too late if the lights go out. Have you all got torches with live batteries in every room in your house. Have you got candles? Have you got a radio that's got a battery in it that doesn't depend on mains electricity if the supply is cut off?

“Have you got containers for water? Because defence is not simply a matter of the armed forces of the country. Our report says it has got to be an all-of-country enterprise. Everyone has to be involved. Everybody has to know what to do in an emergency.”

Defence innovation - battlefield ready

He insisted the UK must become much better about defence innovation, developing new defence technologies and having them battlefield ready at speed.

He said: “If the recommendations are carried through, then we will be move moving swiftly. There is a unit inside the Ministry of Defence, which deals with the £2 billion pounds a year that we give to Ukraine. It can buy things off the shelf. It can buy quickly, it can buy relevantly, and it can get things sent out to the battlefield very, very quickly indeed.

“There's no reason that if you can do that with one unit you can't do that with the whole and that's why it needs to be reorganised.

“We need to pick up on the innovation that we see in Ukraine today and be able to develop it and get it onto the battlefield quickly.”

He argued that preparing for war is the only way it can be avoided: “You must rebuild war readiness and therefore the deterrence. So those who stood outside the Govan shipyard the day we launched the review saying ‘welfare, not warfare’ got it completely wrong. We need to build a war fighting capability in order that it will never be used in the future. That's what deterrence is about.”

More money is going to have to be spent

With the current defence budget being less than the amount spent on welfare, he said a rebalancing may be needed: “The Prime Minister has promised a national conversation about defence and security, and that's going to have to be the part of it.

“We'll have to come and address audiences like this and ask if the Triple Lock that benefits a lot of people in this hall, including me, is sustainable when we need to protect future generations from the kind of threats that is that we're going to face?

“Can we afford to have a welfare budget as big as it is and rising as it is? These are going to be tough decisions for this country and a lot of other countries in Europe as well.

“But if they're going to be protected and not rely anymore on the Americans to produce the expensive equipment that we've come to rely on and their nuclear umbrella, then more money is going to have to be spent to keep us safe, and that, you know, will be difficult.”