PM’S ADVANCE TOWARDS HI-TECH DEFENCE WILL RANKLE THE RANKS

WHILE the vaccination effort continues, Boris Johnson will turn his attention to protecting the nation against other global threats next week.

The Prime Minister and Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, will set out the results of the Government’s Integrated Review of foreign policy, defence, security and international development.

It is expected to signal a major shift in strategic thinking in response to the growing menace of cyber warfare and hi-tech weaponry being developed by hostile states and terror networks.

Defence chiefs believe Britain’s enemies have used Covid as an opportunity to hone their ability to cause chaos by spreading false information, including pumping out misleading claims about vaccines on the internet.

General Sir Nick Carter, the Chief of the Defence Staff, recently warned that covert activities by Russia and China, including cyberhacking and disinformation, risked triggering an “uncontrollable state of all-out war.” The Integrated Review is expected to recommend a big investment in tackling such threats from the £16.5billion extra for the Armed Forces promised by the Prime Minister last year.

Yet the blueprint will make uncomfortable reading for some in the military. The switch towards preparedness for cyber warfare and information threats will mean more conventional forces will be cut. Infantry units, RAF planes, Navy warships and other defence assets are less likely to be required.

“There will be some changes,” one Government insider told me. “We will have to look again at some more traditional defence forces because we have to focus our resources on the technologies that will keep us safe from cyber attacks, drones and the other technologies our enemies are investing in to try and do us harm.”

Mr Johnson may have to brace himself for some grumbling in the ranks of the Armed Forces.