The Wargame: New Sky News and Tortoise Media podcast series simulates a Russian attack on UK
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 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 cast of The Wargame. (L-R) General Sir Richard Barrons, Amber Rudd, Deborah Haynes, Baroness Helena Kennedy, James Heappey, Sir Ben Wallace, Lord Mark Sedwill, Jack Straw, Victoria Mackarness, Jim Murphy, Rob Johnson
The scenario is designed to test Britain’s defences and national resilience at a time of mounting tensions with Russia.
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.”
Former defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace. Pic: Reuters
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.
Russian President Vladimir Putin. Pic: Reuters
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.”
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.
Vladimir Putin has visited Kursk for the first time since his troops ejected Ukrainian forces from the Russian city.
The Russian president met with volunteer organisations and visited a nuclear power plant in the region on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Mr Putin said late last month that his forces had ejected Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region, which ended the largest incursion into Russian territory since the Second World War.
Vladimir Putin during his visit in the Kursk region on Tuesday. Pic: Kremlin News/Telegram
Mr Putin visited a nuclear power plant. Pic: Kremlin.ru/Reuters
Ukraine launched its attack in August last year, using swarms of drones and heavy Western weaponry to smash through the Russian border, controlling nearly 540sq m (5,813sq ft) of Kursk at the height of the incursion.
More than 159 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russian territory, Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday.
The majority were over Russia’s western regions, but at least six drones were shot down over the densely populated Moscow region, the ministry added.
The visit in the Kursk region comes as a Russian missile attack killed six soldiers and injured 10 more during training in the Sumy region of Ukraine, according to the country’s national guard.
The commander of the unit has been suspended and an internal investigation has been launched.
The Russian president met with volunteer organisations. Pic: Kremlin News/Telegram
Russia’s defence ministry claimed the attack on the training camp in northeastern Ukraine killed up to 70 Ukrainian servicemen, including 20 instructors.
The attack comes after US President Donald Trump spoke to both Mr Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, urging them to restart ceasefire talks.
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But German defence minister Boris Pistorius said on Wednesday that Mr Trump misjudged his influence on Mr Putin after the call between the American and Russian leaders yielded no progress in Ukraine peace talks.
Europe has since announced new sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine. Mr Pistorius said it remained to be seen whether the US would join those measures.
Three people have died after severe thunderstorms caused flooding in the Var region of southeastern France, according to reports.
The rain has also caused widespread damage as Meteo-France, the country’s national weather agency, placed the region under an orange alert for rain, flooding and thunderstorms, French broadcaster BFM TV reported.
Two of those who died were an elderly couple who were in their car as it was swept away by floodwaters in the seaside town of Le Lavandou, France 24 reported.
Meanwhile, the gendarmerie said around 2.30pm local time (1:30pm UK time) that a person had been found drowned in their vehicle in the commune of Vidauban.
Le Lavandou and the commune of Bormes-les-Mimosas were particularly hard hit by the storms.
Gil Bernardi, mayor of Le Lavandou, said during a press conference: “The roads, the bridges, the paving stones, there is no more electricity, water, or wastewater treatment plant. The shock is significant because the phenomenon is truly violent and incomprehensible.
“As we speak, an entire part of the commune is inaccessible.”
Power and water outages were also reported in the town of Cavaliere where 250mm of rain fell in the space of one hour.
A parking lot collapsed in the town, and dozens of people were rescued, according to the authorities.
Around 200 firefighters and 35 gendarmes have reportedly been responding to the floods in Var.
Meteo-France had recorded cumulative rainfall exceeding 10cm as of 10am local time.
Japan’s agriculture minister has resigned after saying he has “never had to buy rice” while the country struggles with shortages and rising costs of its staple grain.
Taku Eto offered his resignation to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday after he made the comments at a party seminar on Sunday.
Mr Eto said his supporters have always gifted him rice, meaning he does not have to buy it himself.
His comments immediately sparked a public backlash.
“I made an extremely inappropriate remark at a time when consumers are struggling with soaring rice prices,” Mr Eto told reporters after handing in his resignation at the prime minister’s office.
He told the Kyodo news agency: “I asked myself whether it is appropriate for me to stay at the helm [of the agriculture ministry] at a critical time for rice prices, and I concluded that it is not.
“Once again, I apologise to people for making extremely inappropriate comments as minister when they are struggling with surging rice prices.”
Opposition parties had threatened to submit a no-confidence motion against him if Mr Eto did not resign voluntarily by Wednesday afternoon.
Japan has been struggling with rice shortages since hot weather resulted in a poor harvest in 2023.
The Japanese government’s emergency rice reserves in Saitama Prefecture in March. Pic: AP
More recently, a government preparedness warning ahead of a major earthquake last August prompted panic buying – squeezing supplies even further.
Politicians have also blamed the rising cost of fertiliser and other related goods.
The crisis has seen the government release vast quantities of rice from its emergency stockpiles for the first time.
In April, Japan also imported the grain from South Korea for the first time in 25 years in a further bid to boost supplies and lower prices.
But shelf prices have continued to rise, reaching 4,268 yen (£22) per 5kg in the week to 11 May – double what it was a year ago.
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Mr Eto has been replaced by Shinjiro Koizumi, a former environment minister who ran unsuccessfully against the prime minister for the Liberal Democratic Party leadership last year.
The rice crisis is placing further strain on Mr Ishiba’s minority government – ahead of the country’s upcoming elections in July.
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