Ex-Civil Service chief Simon Case warns of near future ‘dominated’ by conflict

The next 20 years will be “dominated” by conflict between nations, the former head of the Civil Service has said.

Sir Simon Case, who stood down as Cabinet secretary in December, made the warning in his first major interview since leaving the job.

Speaking to The Times newspaper, Sir Simon urged ministers to develop new means of launching Britain’s nuclear deterrent, which is currently kept aboard constantly patrolling submarines.

Land or jet-fired missiles should be considered, he told the newspaper, in a move the Government should announce as part of the coming strategic defence review, an overarching examination of the UK’s defence capability.

“In my view you wouldn’t rely on a single system for anything. That’s true in many walks of life, let alone nuclear deterrence,” he said.

Sir Simon, who served as the Civil Service chief for four prime ministers, described himself as a “pessimist” amid the rising global turmoil.

“As I look out on my children’s lives, the next 10 and probably 20 years is going to be dominated by this inter-state conflict,” he said.

Sir Simon added: “It feels to me that we across the Western alliance need to get our skates on and be ready.”

Speaking on a new podcast launched by The Times, The General & The Journalist, Sir Simon earlier this week said the UK should be hiking its defence spending to 3% as soon as possible.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Government has promised to raise defence spending to 2.5% of the UK’s economic output by 2027, with a commitment to raise it further to 3% in the next parliament.

The ex-civil servant retired because of a rare health condition at the end of last year.

He served as Cabinet secretary under Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.

Sir Simon also previously served in senior Civil Service roles under then-prime ministers David Cameron and Theresa May.