The UK should consider sending troops to Ukraine to give training and other support to Ukrainian forces in their war with Russia – though away from the frontline, former armed forces minister James Heappey has said.
Mr Heappey also told Sky News that Britain needs to be better prepared for war at a time of growing threats, including by reinvigorating a large “strategic reserve” force of thousands of veterans who could be required to serve again in a national crisis.
In a wide-ranging interview, the outgoing MP for Wells in Somerset repeated a call for an immediate increase in defence spending to close gaps in capability – such as being able to defend UK airspace from missiles – and eventually to regrow the size of the military.
“There’s really two things that I have set myself to achieve in my remaining time as an MP, given the knowledge that I have as a long-serving minister in the MoD [Ministry of Defence],” Mr Heappey, 43, said in an interview at his home.
“Firstly, to make the case for more defence spending: 2.5% [of national income, up from just over 2%] now. Three per cent by 2030.
“And secondly, that we reinvest and refocus in our strategic resilience as a nation and our capacity to war fight and withstand any other type of crisis that might come our way.”
The comments came after Sky News revealed last week that the government has no national plan for the defence of the UK or the mobilisation of its people and industry in a war.
Image: In a series called Prepared For War? Sky News explores how prepared the UK is for the possibility of armed conflict
Officials have started to develop a cross-government “national defence plan”, but any shift back to a Cold War-style, ready-for-war footing would require political leaders to make defence a genuinely national effort once again.
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Mr Heappey, who stepped down as armed forces minister last month after four and a half years in the job, underlined the critical importance to British and wider European security of supporting Ukraine in its war against Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
He urged the UK and its allies to go even further with the types of weapons they are willing to give Kyiv as the Ukrainian military struggles to withstand renewed Russian attacks.
“I think we’ve got to shake the tree again right now for what more we could give from our current inventories – What is the next capability threshold that we could go to beyond Storm Shadow [cruise missiles]?”
Image: British Army troops teach members of the Ukrainian armed forces how to operate weaponry in 2022. Pic: PA
“Some of the things that Macron has suggested recently, I think are things that really do deserve consideration,” the former minister said.
Asked if he meant the idea of boots on the ground, he said: “I think you’ve got to be careful about how you do it. I think definitely nowhere near a combat zone. I think you’ve got to be very, very careful not to make it into a Russo-NATO war.
“But I do think it is worth exploring what in the sort of deeper – in the depth of Ukraine – the donor community could do.”
As for whether this meant things like deploying British troops on a training mission inside Ukraine, Mr Heappey said: “Well, I think it’s worth considering.”
Reviving the strategic reserve
Closer to home, Mr Heappey said he would like to see a modern-day version of a Cold War system of preparing the whole of the nation – military, industry and the public – for the possibility of armed conflict.
This included reviving the strategic reserve – which comprises everyone who leaves the army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force for a set period of time.
Image: James Heappey said care will need to be taken not to turn the current conflict into a Russo-NATO war. Pic: PA
“Rewind 30 years, when you left the military, you were left with a set of uniform, there was a requirement to go for training exercises once a year, just a weekend, just to check you could still shoot straight and that you could still run,” he said.
The obligation to serve as a second layer of military force to support the regular military in a war of national survival still exists – including for Mr Heappey as a former army officer.
“So I’d better get on with some press-ups and some running,” he said with a smile.
Renewing contact with this group of veterans is something defence chiefs are exploring.
“I think that they are looking at how they’ll do that,” the MP said.
“Contacting them is one thing… but it’s what you do with them… are we going to start to say to them that there is some sort of liability whilst they’re on the strategic reserve?
“These are discussions that are under way, nowhere near to a policy announcement, but they are under way.”
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He said he thought it would be a good idea to re-establish such a link and some kind of annual training, though he recognised this would require a lot of equipment, such as rifles and uniforms, as well as serving soldiers, sailors and aviators to run the exercise.
As for the message this would send to the UK’s enemies, he said: “I think it would be quite powerful… all of a sudden, our adversaries are looking at a force that is the regular force… and then 200,000-250,000 more beyond who have a skill at arms, who have a familiarity with military tactics, and could in extremis be mobilised, and that changes their thinking again.”
Asked about the strategic reserve, a MOD spokesperson said: “Our armed forces reserves are an essential and extremely valued part of defence and the contribution that they make to resilience and our ability to call on additional personnel when required are vital. We regularly update our records to ensure that we can call on ex-regular personnel should they be required to serve and have modernised our processes.”
Heathrow Airport bosses had been warned of a potential substation failures less than a week before a major power outage closed the airport for a day, a committee of MPs has heard.
The chief executive of Heathrow Airline Operators’ Committee Nigel Wicking told MPs of the Transport Committee he raised issues about resilience on 15 March after cable and wiring took out lights on a runway.
A fire at an electricity substation in west London meant the power supply was disrupted to Europe’s largest airport for a day – causing travel chaos for around 200,000 passengers.
“I’d actually warned Heathrow of concerns that we had with regard to the substations and my concern was resilience”, Mr Wicking said.
“So the first occasion was to team Heathrow director on the 15th of the month of March. And then I also spoke to the chief operating officer and chief customer officer two days before regarding this concern.
“And it was following a number of, a couple of incidents of, unfortunately, theft, of wire and cable around some of the power supply that on one of those occasions, took out the lights on the runway for a period of time. That obviously made me concerned.”
Mr Wicking also said he believed Heathrow’s Terminal 5 could have been ready to receive repatriation flights by “late morning” on the day of the closure, and that “there was opportunity also to get flights out”.
However, Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye said keeping the airport open during last month’s power outage would have been “disastrous”.
There was a risk of having “literally tens of thousands of people stranded in the airport, where we have nowhere to put them”, Mr Woldbye said.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Another 23 female potential victims have reported that they may have been raped by Zhenhao Zou – the Chinese PhD student detectives believe may be one of the country’s most prolific sex offenders.
The Metropolitan Police launched an international appeal after Zou, 28, was convicted of drugging and raping 10 women following a trial at the Inner London Crown Court last month.
Detectives have not confirmed whether the 23 people who have come forward add to their estimates that more than 50 other women worldwide may have been targeted by the University College London student.
Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth said: “We have victims reaching out to us from different parts of the globe.
“At the moment, the primary places where we believe offending may have occurred at this time appears to be both in England, here in London, and over in China.”
Image: Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth
Zou lived in a student flat in Woburn Place, near Russell Square in central London, and later in a flat in the Uncle building in Churchyard Row in Elephant and Castle, south London.
He had also been a student at Queen’s University Belfast, where he studied mechanical engineering from 2017 until 2019. Police say they have not had any reports from Belfast but added they were “open-minded about that”.
“Given how active and prolific Zou appears to have been with his awful offending, there is every prospect that he could have offended anywhere in the world,” Mr Southworth said.
“We wouldn’t want anyone to write off the fact they may have been a victim of his behaviour simply by virtue of the fact that you are from a certain place.
“The bottom line is, if you think you may have been affected by Zhenhao Zou or someone you know may have been, please don’t hold back. Please make contact with us.”
Image: Pic: Met Police
Zou used hidden or handheld cameras to record his attacks, and kept the footage and often the women’s belongings as souvenirs.
He targeted young, Chinese women, inviting them to his flat for drinks or to study, before drugging and assaulting them.
Zou was convicted of 11 counts of rape, with two of the offences relating to one victim, as well as three counts of voyeurism, 10 counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one count of false imprisonment and three counts of possession of a controlled drug with intent to commit a sexual offence, namely butanediol.
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Mr Southworth said: “Of those 10 victims, several were not identified so as we could be sure exactly where in the world they were, but their cases, nevertheless, were sufficient to see convictions at court.
“There were also, at the time, 50 videos that were identified of further potential female victims of Zhenhao Zou’s awful crimes.
“We are still working to identify all of those women in those videos.
“We have now, thankfully, had 23 victim survivors come forward through the appeal that we’ve conducted, some of whom may be identical with some of the females that we saw in those videos, some of whom may even turn out to be from the original indicted cases.”
Mr Southworth added: “Ultimately, now it’s the investigation team’s job to professionally pick our way through those individual pieces of evidence, those individual victims’ stories, to see if we can identify who may have been a victim, when and where, so then we can bring Zou to justice for the full extent of his crimes.”
Mr Southworth said more resources will be put into the investigation, and that detectives are looking to understand “what may have happened without wishing to revisit the trauma, but in a way that enables [the potential victims] to give evidence in the best possible way.”
The Metropolitan Police is appealing to anyone who thinks they may have been targeted by Zou to contact the force either by emailing survivors@met.police.uk, or via the major incident public portal on the force’s website.
An 11-year-old girl who went missing after entering the River Thames has been named as Kaliyah Coa.
An “extensive search” has been carried out after the incident in east London at around 1.30pm on Monday.
Police said the child had been playing during a school inset day and entered the water near Barge House Causeway, North Woolwich.
A recovery mission is now said to be under way to find Kaliyah along the Thames, with the Metropolitan Police carrying out an extensive examination of the area.
Image: Barge House Causeway is a concrete slope in North Woolwich leading into the Thames
Chief Superintendent Dan Card thanked members of the public and emergency teams who responded to “carry out a large-scale search during a highly pressurised and distressing time”.
He also confirmed drone technology and boats were being used to “conduct a thorough search over a wide area”.
He added: “Our specialist officers are supporting Kaliyah’s family through this deeply upsetting time and our thoughts go out to all those impacted by what has happened.”
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“Equally we appreciate this has affected the wider community who have been extremely supportive. You will see extra officers in the area during the coming days.”
On Monday, Kerry Benadjaoud, a 62-year-old resident from the area, said she heard of the incident from her next-door neighbour, who “was outside doing her garden and there was two little kids running, and they said ‘my friend’s in the water'”.
When she arrived at the scene with a life ring, a man told her he had called the police, “but he said at the time he could see her hands going down”.
Barge House Causeway is a concrete slope that goes directly into the River Thames and is used to transport boats.
Residents pointed out that it appeared to be covered in moss and was slippery.