Brits must be prepared to be called up to boost ‘infantilised’ UK military amid WW3 fears, ex-MI6 boss warns

BRITAIN is in for a “rude shock” if our defence firepower is not drastically increased, the former head of MI6 has warned.

Sir Alex Younger said the country has become “infantilised” into believing we are living in a safer world - “and that’s rubbish”.

While stopping short of calling for full-throttle conscription, he said ministers needed to plan how citizens could be mobilised.

The ex-top spook told the BBC’s Today podcast: “I don't think this is about blanket conscription, but I think it is about thinking about ways in which the broader country would participate and contribute to security in a time of an emergency, which you know is no longer impossible to imagine.”

He said his career as a spymaster had shown him the real risk still posed by hostile states that are not apparent on the surface.

Sir Alex said: “We seem to have convinced ourselves somehow that the advantages we have and the values that are shot through our country are kind of natural and don’t need defending. And I think we’re in for a rude shock.”

As Rishi Sunak faces calls to ramp up defence spending, Sir Alex warned that “our military industrial complex is shot.”

He added: “ We need to do something about that. We need to build up our capabilities.”

Sir Alex said that the UK could be looking at a conscription model that exists in places like Sweden, where the government has the power to compel it, but only does so in areas where it is really needed.

“You’ll notice on that list is not everyone being called up and going to the drafting station, I think that’s extremely unlikely.”

Called the 'Total Defence Service' everyone turnign 18 in Sweden must complete an enlistment form, but only some are chosen to complete basic training.

From there, those who have completed the training qualify to be called up as a conscript and could be called up if the state of alert is heightened.

Sir Alex's call comes only months after General Sir Patrick Sanders stressed the need for ministers to "mobilise the nation".

The Chief of the General Staff, said: "Our friends in Eastern and Northern Europe, who feel the proximity of the Russian threat more acutely, are already acting prudently, laying the foundations for national mobilisation.

"We will not be immune and as the pre-war generation we must similarly prepare - and that is a whole-of-nation undertaking. 

"Ukraine brutally illustrates that regular armies start wars; citizen armies win them."

However, in February, the chief of defence staff played down the conscription fears saying "we are not on the cusp of war with Russia."

Admiral Tony Radakin said: "We can always do better and we advise ministers on what more might need to be done in the future.

"But it is for politicians to decide how much resource is allocated and where and how this is balanced with wider demands of government.

"Those are sensitive conversations. They are best done in private."

Meanwhile a former Admiral has said the UK's military is "starved" and desperately needs for soldiers to fight.

Lord West said "every aspect of the nation" will be mobilised in the event of World War Three - but Britain is unprepared for a war after "squeezing" defence spending for years.

"We don't want to go to conscription, but if there should be a world war, then obviously the country mobilises," he told The Sun. 

"Every aspect of the nation gets mobilised to the war - otherwise you lose. We saw that in the Second World War.

NATO member and Russian neighbour Latvia has reintroduced conscription after ending it 20 years ago.

Its foreign minister and previous PM Krisjanis Karins has said it would be a good idea if the UK brought back conscription to act as a deterrent.