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.
At least 30 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Sweida in clashes between local military groups and tribes, according to Syria’s interior ministry.
Officials say initial figures suggest around 100 people have also been injured in the city, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups.
The interior ministry said its forces will directly intervene to resolve the conflict, which the Reuters news agency said involved fighting between Druze gunmen and Bedouin Sunni tribes.
It marks the latest episode of sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among minority groups have increased since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.
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In March, Sky’s Stuart Ramsay described escalating violence within Syria
The violence reportedly erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida.
Last April, Sunni militia clashed with armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and fighting later spread to another district near the capital.
But this is the first time the fighting has been reported inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports the fighting was centred in the Maqwas neighbourhood east of Sweida and villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city.
It adds that Syria’s Ministry of Defence has deployed military convoys to the area.
Western nations, including the US and UK, have been increasingly moving towards normalising relations with Syria.
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UK aims to build relationship with Syria
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Concerns among minority groups have intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.
That was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.
The city of Sweida is in southern Syria, about 24 miles (38km) north of the border with Jordan.
The man convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher has been charged with sexual assault against an ex-girlfriend.
Rudy Guede, 38, was the only person who was definitively convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Ms Kercher in Perugia, Italy, back in 2007.
He will be standing trial again in November after an ex-girlfriend filed a police report in the summer of 2023 accusing Guede of mistreatment, personal injury and sexual violence.
Guede, from the Ivory Coast, was released from prison for the murder of Leeds University student Ms Kercher in 2021, after having served about 13 years of a 16-year sentence.
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Since last year – when this investigation was still ongoing – Guede has been under a “special surveillance” regime, Sky News understands, meaning he was banned from having any contact with the woman behind the sexual assault allegations, including via social media, and had to inform police any time he left his city of residence, Viterbo, as ruled by a Rome court.
Guede has been serving a restraining order and fitted with an electronic ankle tag.
The Kercher murder case, in the university city of Perugia, was the subject of international attention.
Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found murdered in the flat she shared with her American roommate, Amanda Knox.
The Briton’s throat had been cut and she had been stabbed 47 times.
(L-R) Raffaele Sollecito, Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox. File pic: AP
Ms Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were placed under suspicion.
Both were initially convicted of murder, but Italy’s highest court overturned their convictions, acquitting them in 2015.
World
IDF blames ‘technical error’ after Gaza officials say children collecting water killed in strike
The Israeli military says it missed its intended target after Gaza officials said 10 Palestinians – including six children – were killed in a strike at a water collection point.
Another 17 people were wounded in the strike on a water distribution point in Nuseirat refugee camp, said Ahmed Abu Saifan, an emergency physician at Al Awda Hospital.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it had intended to hit an Islamic Jihad militant but a “technical error with the munition” had caused the missile to fall “dozens of metres from the target”.
The IDF said the incident is under review, adding that it “works to mitigate harm to uninvolved civilians as much as possible” and “regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians”.
A wounded child is treated after the strike on the water collection point. Pic: Reuters
Officials at Al Awda Hospital said it received 10 bodies after the Israeli strike on the water collection point and six children were among the dead.
Ramadan Nassar, who lives in the area, said around 20 children and 14 adults were lined up Sunday morning to fill up water.
When the strike occurred, everyone ran and some, including those who were severely injured, fell to the ground, he said.
Blood stains are seen on containers at the water collection point. Pic: Reuters
In total, 19 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, local health officials said.
Two women and three children were among nine killed after an Israeli strike on a home in the central town of Zawaida, officials at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said.
Israel has claimed it hit more than 150 targets in the besieged enclave in the past day.
The latest strikes come after the Israel military opened fire near an aid centre in Rafah on Saturday. The Red Cross said 31 people were killed.
The IDF has said it fired “warning shots” near the aid distribution site but it was “not aware of injured individuals” as a result.
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Palestinians shot while seeking aid, says paramedic
The war in Gaza started in response to Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people and saw about 250 taken hostage.
More than 58,000 Palestinians have since been killed, with more than half being women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
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US President Donald Trump has said he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war.
But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there were no signs of a breakthrough, as a new sticking point emerged over the deployment of Israeli troops during the truce.
Hamas still holds 50 hostages, with fewer than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
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