How would Britons react if the country was placed on a war footing? My question is provoked by a letter from a certain Freya Hartley in this Sunday’s Observer. Her two short paragraphs are worth quoting in full:
“I feel strongly that our government should be bold and forward thinking and put itself and the country on the equivalent of a war footing. It needs to push through fast a raft of measures to improve our self-sufficiency, especially in food, energy, and defence. As we did in the Second World War.
They need to hold cross-party brainstormings, initiate a blitz of public information to get the whole country engaged and involved. Act fast. This could bring the country together. We left Europe and the US has left us, we are alone and we need to come together, work together. Good could come out of all this horror”.
Ms Hartley lives in Torbay. She may already have been in touch with the esteemed MP for Torbay, (Steve Darling) for all I know. She raises issues that Lib Dems would do well to reflect on, not least because this is territory that Labour and the Conservatives will go nowhere near – not this month anyway!
Those of us still getting our television schedules on Freeview will be aware of a surfeit of series about World War 2. “The World of War’ with commentary by Lawrence Olivier is excellent and actually bears watching more than once, but most of the rest takes up a lot of space because there were more official film makers around than in any previous conflict. However, as opposed to accounts of battles and high level diplomacy, the way people on the “home front” coped with the restrictions, shortages and long-term separation from loved ones does not feature so prominently.
There were black marketeers around (see Dad’s Army!) and others ready to seek personal gain during a crisis, but most people who lived through it testify to a sense of unity, clarity of purpose and commitment to the common good, understanding the sacrifices that had to be made. There were some other positive by-products, particularly people having the healthiest diet that has ever been seen before or since.
The lessons of Covid, often billed as the biggest post-war crisis to hit the country, are still being digested. The amazement of Boris Johnson and his mates when they realised that the overwhelming majority of people were actually obeying the rules, that they opted out of, is a memory to be treasured.
The current parlous situation that European countries, including the UK, find themselves in, thanks to an American president with a criminal record and a disastrous business history, will offer plenty more shocks over coming months. If we get through the nightmare to a place where different and healthier ways of relating to the USA without “special relationship” delusions and liberation from cultural (and perhaps even linguistic) domination there will be some good outcomes after the multiple crises have been to some extent mitigated.
* Geoff Reid is a Methodist minister who spent the first twelve years of retirement from the day job as a Bradford City Councillor but has lived in Barnsley since 2024.
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13 Comments
Being on a war footing invokes the idea of military conscription or national service. A number of countries around the world have such programs. However, most UK military experts do not see national service as an appropriate response arguing “it is through the Reserves that the answer is more likely to be found than conscription, which – whether full or selective – could represent a national disservice.”Conscription in the UK: A National Disservice?
Soldiering is a tough vocation, but one that generations of British men and women have pursued.
There may be a benefical solution here in endeavouring to swell the ranks of reserves with the approximately 1 million young people aged 16-24 not currently in education training or employment Young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), UK: February 2025 and drawing from that reserve pool those with an aptitude and willingness for military service.
“There may be a benefical solution here in endeavouring to swell the ranks of reserves with the approximately 1 million young people aged 16-24 not currently in education training or employment”
They might acquire skills which aid finding employment later.
The problem with trying to grow the Reserves significantly is that decades of cuts to personnel, equipment and facilities mean that we don’t have the experienced Regulars to provide training, or the necessary equipment and accommodation for them.
A major source of trainers for the reserves could be the 14,000 service leavers who come on to the civilian job market every year and ex-servicemen as well as allowing those with relevant pre-existing skills for homeland defence and security to volunteer for the strategic reserve, such as retired firefighters, police and security guards.
The US, Canadian and Australian armed forces maintain much higher percentages of reserves to regulars: the UK’s Reserves are less than 40% the size of the British Army, compared to 105% in the US, 95% in Canada and 70% in Australia. Reserves are also 10% of the size of the regular Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, while the equivalent figures for the US, Canada and Australia respectively are 16%, 48% and 28% for the navy and 53%, 17% and 45% for the air force.
Logistics is a key ekement of every military including demanding training, appropriate scales of equipment and sufficient logistical and administrative support. Modern skills include Cyber warfare, drones, maintenance of mechanical, IT and communication systems.
Rebuilding reserves may take several years and heavy investment in equipment, facilities and accomodation. Matching that requirement with the current need to provide opportunities for employment, education and training to circa 1 million 16-24 year olds is a Keysnesian stimulus solution to rebooting economic growth as levels of taxation are increased over the next few years to meet permanent defence and security needs.
> “It needs to push through fast a raft of measures to improve our self-sufficiency, especially in food, energy, and defence.”
Pardon! Free Trade ? Comparative advantage? Shared European defence? Pooled expertise and buying power?
We do not have to agree with every clause of a brief letter to the newspaper. Its strength is in its belief that people are capable of shared responsibility in the face of a not unexpected crisis requiring a measure of urgency that our political institutions are not familiar with.
It would seem premature to go on a war footing unless the country is going to war. Is it?
Please try and understand the Russian point of view, and its dangerous mentality. They are people with great hearts, who can be kind and generous, but their history has made them paranoid about “outsiders” (i.e. non-Russians). Their country has been invaded several times over the centuries (and Russians have long memories!), resulting in mass slaughter, starvation and terrible deprivation; as a consequence they trust no outsiders, and will take every step they deem necessary to do so, including total dissembling. To Putin and his followers (and state propaganda and severance from objective news reporting means the populace has been overwhelming conditions to follow their leaders), their country is ALREADY at war, especially with the West – just not (other than Ukraine) currently in a shooting war. Please understand why this is so, and sympathise.
In this country on the first of April 1968, the Labour Government disbanded and destroyed all Civil Defence Services which were very well equipped and trained. All that knowledge and equipment was lost. Emergency Planning changed into something else now with university degrees becoming very wide ranging but eventually not including Civil Defence. If we were on a war footing the the fire services have been cut back. Many things are already strained. No party including our own has spoken about CD. Scottish Fire Service has lost a number of height appliances to save money. All the green fleet has gone. We would be in dire trouble. All of us with CD experience are now over 70. However the voluntary Joint Civil Aid Corps are making a start.
Note “conditions” in last comment should read “conditioned”. Note also I have visited Russia and have Muscovite friends, so I am not opposed to Russians as such and do not dislike them or want them to be an enemy!
The need for self sufficiency has never been greater. Individuals, local authorities and Govt. must act and as quoted Act Quickly.
Hopefully war won’t happen but Climate Catastrophe would be better prepared for.
Martin Kettle calls for “something close to a war economy, and it cannot be created overnight” – Guardian, 6th April.
“We have left Europe and the US has left us”. Not much we can do about the latter while the present deranged administration is in the White House, but what better time to fix the former ? If ever there was a good reason for Labour to break their manifesto pledge not to undo Brexit, then surely it is the security crisis we find ourselves in now ?