Is Britain heading for civil war?

One expert is convinced that a violent internal conflict is now unavoidable

Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Montecruz Foto

There was a time when the question would have seemed so absurd that no serious person would have deemed it worthy of consideration. Was a civil war likely to occur in these islands? Of course not. Not any time soon, at least. Britain had its problems, sure, but we were a civilised and functioning democracy with no real history – not in modern times, at any rate – of violent revolution or widespread internecine conflict. We resolved problems between ourselves peaceably and constitutionally. Even in fraught times we kept calm and carried on.

In fact, when, in the wake of the unrest that unfolded on Britain’s streets after the Southport murders, Elon Musk suggested that civil war here was ‘inevitable’, the reaction from politicians and pundits was largely one of derision and contempt. I confess that even I, someone who has written and spoken extensively on the deepening problems of social disintegration and alienation afflicting many of our communities, thought Musk’s prediction wildly over the top.

But that was before I listened to a fascinating and thought-provoking 90-minute interview with one of Britain’s leading experts on war and insurgency. This man is no crank or conspiracy theorist. On the contrary, his credentials – he is a government adviser and highly-experienced academic – are impeccable. And he is convinced that civil war is coming to Britain.