Ex-MI6 chief calls for MOD's hard power to be integrated with soft power of Foreign Office

The former head of MI6 has described the MOD as the Ministry for War and the Foreign Office as the Ministry for Peace.

Sir Alex Younger, who ran the Secret Intelligence Service between 2014 and 2020, was giving evidence to the Defence Committee in Parliament as it discussed Defence in the Grey Zone and hybrid threats.

He told MPs: "I worry a lot about the fact we have got a Ministry for War and a Ministry for Peace effectively in the MOD and the Foreign Office."

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"We lapsed recently into a very uncomfortable paradigm where the MOD did hard power and the FCO did soft power and I think that was nonsense.

"Everyone should do both – and it's got to be integrated."

Sir Alex added: "This Government, certainly in opposition, talked a lot about the need to solve that and bring it together, and if that's happening then I think that would be good.

"I think the club should be broadened of course to include my former community, the UK intelligence community.

"But the reality, what's healthy, is it's not so much about being behind or in front, as if we're seeing that grouping, in particular, working as a team and if the ministers involved understand that, and if the mechanisms exist for the decisions taken to be transmitted into facts changing on the ground.

"And I worry that our systems and our laws don't enable that."

On tackling Russia's threat to the UK in the hybrid space, which combines physical and digital elements, he said: "The language they respect is strength, not weakness.

"The way to deal with this problem is to ensure that Ukraine does not stop existing as a country, that is where this is being contested.

"If we flake on Ukraine, I can assure you our hybrid problem will not get better – it will get worse."

Sir Alex was also asked by MP and former Army officer Lincoln Jopp about his thoughts on using all the money from seized Russian assets.

He replied: "I worried about this in terms of the international precedent that it set, but I now think there's an argument for doing just that."