- Labour peers and are guests on Lord Speaker's
podcast
-
says: “We are
under-prepared, we're under insured, we're under attack and
we're not safe.”
- On China, says: “It's probably
better to call the Chinese a problem rather than a threat.”
-
says any peace deal in Ukraine
will need to be enforced by people willing to fight: “You can't
just have them there watching or you get massacres like we had
in Rwanda.”
A former head of the Royal Navy has warned that the
Russia-Ukraine conflict could spiral into a nuclear confrontation
with devastating consequences.
Former First Sea Lord Admiral Lord (Alan) West says: “It's quite
difficult to see how one's going to get out of this (conflict)
because one doesn't want a full war between Nato and Russia. They
(Russia) would lose it. And the danger with them losing it is –
would they then make that stupid mistake of going nuclear?”
, who was the UK's first Security
Minister, under , was speaking alongside former
Nato Secretary General Lord (George) Robertson on the Lord
Speaker's podcast, available on YouTube here.
Amid debate over whether the UK is investing enough in national
security to protect critical infrastructure,
says: “It may well be that when the lights
go out, and the hospitals close down, and the data centres melt
because the air conditioning has been turned off, then people are
going to say to people like us, and people in government, ‘why
did you not do something about it?'”
He adds that if Vladimir Putin is allowed to make progress in
Ukraine, “something like 20 million Ukrainians are going to leave
their country and come to us (in the EU). When migration is such
a big issue today in most countries, they (anti-war protestors)
need to bear in mind the fact that people in Ukraine are not
going to stay there.”
In a wide-ranging conversation with the Lord Speaker, of Alcluith:
says:
On Russian-organised sabotage in
Europe: “They can't do it themselves. So they are now
contracting out, a good capitalist principle, to organised crime.
Our undersea cables, which carry 99% of all the data we use, are
vulnerable and they're watching them and, in some cases,
attacking them.”
On China: “We've got to engage with China,
but recognise that it is going to be the future challenge -
militarily, commercially and diplomatically - and therefore be
very, very cautious about what we do... I think it's probably
better to call the Chinese a problem rather than a threat at the
present moment.”
On security: “We are living in very
dangerous times. When you saw the sight of President Xi,
President Kim Jong-un, President Putin, and even the Prime
Minister of India, in Tiananmen Square a few weeks ago, it should
have put a shiver down the back of pretty well everybody who is
concerned about security in the world. They are collectively
getting together essentially to ... diminish the power of Western
values and the West as a whole.”
says:
On being Commander in Chief (Navy) during
9/11: “I remember getting a phone call from our nuclear
firing cell, the guys who finally - when all the codes go - press
the buttons, and they said, unbelievably, on my red phone
(linking to the UK deterrent): ‘Sir... the Americans are starting
to move to immediate readiness for nuclear weapon release in all
three systems.' That's strategic air, intercontinental ballistic
missiles and subsurface. ...'What do you want me to do?'”
On maintaining a post-war peace in
Ukraine: “You've got to have something that ensures
that there isn't a breakdown in the peace. That means we'll have
people who are willing to fight. You can't just have them there
watching...(or) you get the massacres like we had in the Balkans,
Rwanda.”
On politicians: “Having become a
politician, my respect for politicians went up
dramatically 'cause the pressures for politicians ...
are immense. I mean, it is really, really difficult. And 99%
of them are trying really hard to do their
best. One per cent are ghastly.”
Biographical details:
of Port Ellen,
of Islay in Argyll and Bute, served as the 10th Secretary General
of NATO from 1999 to 2004. He was Secretary of State for Defence
from 1997 to 1999, before becoming a Labour peer, and co-authored
the Government's Strategic Defence Review, published in June
2025.
of Spithead is a
Labour Peer and a former Head of the Royal Navy. He joined the
Royal Navy in 1965. In 2002 he was appointed the First Sea Lord
and Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy, a post he held until
2006. From 2007-2010, he was Minister for Security,
Counter-terrorism and Police.
Lord Speaker's Corner podcast
This episode is the latest in a series of Lord Speaker's Corner
podcasts which have previously included , , Baroness Lane and among others.
Episodes are available here: https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/house-of-lords-podcast/
