Sir Richard Dearlove delivers the 2026 Annual GWPF Lecture
London, 18 September – The Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) has released its 2026 Annual GWPF Lecture. Speaking to audience in central London, former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove warned that Britain is perilously close to an energy security “cliff edge” and argued that Britain’s energy policy had left the country dangerously exposed to hostile states and vulnerable to disruption.
In his lecture, entitled ‘Energy Security: Blowing in the Wind’, Sir Richard said that the UK’s approach to energy had been shaped too heavily by climate policy while failing to give sufficient weight to the strategic vulnerabilities created by dependence on foreign manufacturing, imported components and an increasingly weather-dependent electricity system.
He also argued that deindustrialisation had created a deeper strategic problem. Britain had lost not only industrial production but also much of the ability to rebuild its own energy infrastructure in an emergency:
“We have very little industry left to protect and we cannot rebuild non-existent industries which lie in foreign jurisdictions beyond our reach.”
The full lecture is now available online to watch or to read.
Energy Security: Blowing in the Wind (pdf)
