What WOULD Britain do on the brink of a nuclear apocalypse? Film-makers given access to top secret 'war game' involving imminent Russian attack on London - and top brass decide NOT to retaliate
- Film-makers reveal how the war game decisions unfold minute by minute
- Committee votes overwhelmingly against responding to a nuclear attack
- Government plans to spend £100 billion replacing our fleet of Trident submarines
As the world teeters on the edge of Armageddon, Britain's top brass are faced with the most chilling decision of all. After Russia has invaded a Nato state, the rapidly escalating crisis threatens the very existence of Britain.
Now, with a nuclear strike on London imminent, military commanders and senior Government figures in a Whitehall bunker must choose whether to launch our Trident missiles in response, having already decided against a nuclear strike at an earlier stage in the crisis.
But the decision is no – and this outcome of an utterly realistic 'war game' throws up deeply troubling questions, not least with the current political row over Government plans to spend £100 billion replacing our fleet of Trident submarines.
In the end, the committee votes overwhelmingly against responding to a nuclear bomb being dropped on the UK
Now, with a nuclear strike on London imminent, military commanders and senior Government figures in a Whitehall bunker must choose whether to launch our Trident missiles in response, having already decided against a nuclear strike at an earlier stage in the crisis
The terrifying moment is the climax of a simulated emergency, in which retired senior military and diplomatic figures convene around a table in a war room, just as a Cabinet Office committee would give their advice to the Prime Minister.
With unprecedented access to the normally highly secret 'war game', BBC film-makers reveal how the decisions unfold minute by minute.
The exercise, designed by military strategists, envisages a Russian invasion of Latvia to support pro-Kremlin separatists who have taken over 20 towns near its border.
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When Nato leaders become divided about how to respond, America and Britain go it alone to launch a ground offensive to force Putin's troops back, during which four British soldiers are taken hostage until they are rescued by Special Forces.
Then Russia hits back with a nuclear strike on Royal Navy warship HMS Ocean – instantly killing 1,200 Royal Marines and sailors. Remarkably, the committee votes against retaliating with a nuclear strike. But America, which also lost a warship, ignores the British advice and unleashes its own nuclear attack on a Russian military target – pushing us into all-out atomic war.
Footage from the forthcoming BBC programme, World War Three: Inside the War Room
Target: HMS Ocean is hit by the Russians, killing 1,200 on board during the war game
The committee is faced with one final decision – does it launch a like-for-like retaliation?
The tension builds and the doomsday scenario reaches its climax as the war room hears that Putin has ordered London to be nuked next.
The committee is faced with one final decision – does it launch a like-for-like retaliation?
General Sir Richard Shirreff, until recently Nato's Deputy Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, takes a long pause, and declares: 'I say do not fire.'
Sir Tony Brenton, a former ambassador to Russia, adds: 'Do we pointlessly kill millions of Russians or not? To me it's a no-brainer – we do not.'
In the end, the committee votes overwhelmingly against responding to a nuclear bomb being dropped on the UK.
Former Royal Navy supremo Admiral Lord West took part in the war game but by the time of the vote was detained elsewhere in the simulated crisis.
However, last night he said he was in favour of retaliation.
The Labour peer, in comments at odds with Jeremy Corbyn's disarmament stance, told the MoS: 'We should use our second strike capability with Trident to wipe them out as well.
'The whole point of deterrence is the uncertainty of whether you would use it.
'If you don't intend to use it in such circumstances then there is no deterrent.'
Sir Richard, meanwhile, told this newspaper: 'At that point it was clear deterrence had failed. My feeling was it had become a moral issue – that the use of force can only be justified to prevent a greater evil… if the UK is going to be obliterated, what is going to be achieved if we obliterate half of Russia as well? It was going to create an even worse evil.'
World War Three: Inside The War Room is on BBC2 at 9pm this Wednesday
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