Former armed forces minister James Heappey says UK must prepare for war despite being ‘very long way behind’

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Preparing the nation for war is the best way to maximise the chance of peace - but the UK is a "very long way behind", a former defence minister has warned. In a sign of how alien the idea of armed conflict has become to most officials in Whitehall, James Heappey said many departments had declined the chance to take part in a "whole of government" exercise to practice evacuating to a bunker in the event of war. It was a drill former defence secretary Ben Wallace had pushed for "to get people down to the bunker so they could...