'MI5 will be all over this': Security expert tells LBC why counter-terror officials are probing Heathrow chaos
21 March 2025, 11:47 | Updated: 21 March 2025, 23:34
A security expert has told LBC he believes MI5 officers would quickly have been "all over" the fire that forced Heathrow Airport to close for 18 hours.
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Over 1,300 flights were cancelled at Europe’s busiest airport, causing misery for tens of thousands of passengers. It finally re-opened late on Friday.
Investigations into the causes of the fire at a nearby electricity substation in west London are continuing, including the involvement of counter-terror police.
Scotland Yard isn't treating it as suspicious while the London Fire Brigade is focusing its inquiry on distribution equipment.
However, Professor Anthony Glees from the University of Buckingham told us that MI5 would have speedily assessed whether the inferno was the result of a Kremlin-sponsored attack.
Read more: Heathrow closure: What we know so far, as airport set to stay shut all day after substation fire
Huge smoke cloud fills the sky as fire burns at Hayes substation
Professor Glees said: “We are obliged to think about Russian military intelligence being involved in something as serious as this.
“It’s a very serious hit on our critical national infrastructure [and] that we should suspect the Russians and their surrogates being responsible is in itself an indication of the success of Russian subversive activities in the United Kingdom".
Fire consumes Hayes substation
The major disruption at one of the UK’s key pieces of critical infrastructure comes just a day after Sir Keir Starmer was pictured on one of the UK’s nuclear-powered submarines in a calculated display of Britain's hard power.
Earlier on Friday, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told Nick Ferrari there was “no suggestion of foul play” in the incident, citing a conversation with the National Grid’s Chief Executive, John Pettigrew.
Yet the threat of Russia using nonmilitary methods of disrupting Britons’ lives - so-called “grey warfare” - has been a consistent concern amongst the intelligence community.
Last year, Sir Richard Dearlove, who was head of MI6 when President Putin first came to power, warned LBC that the UK faced a significant threat from Russia’s use of grey warfare tactics.
The most prepared man in Britain? Caller Edgar's fantastic journey to beat Heathrow chaos
Addressing the use of Russian bots on social media in the aftermath of the Southport attack, Sir Richard told Nick Ferrari: “We’re in a state of grey warfare with Russia – we may not feel that we are, but they certainly think they are.
“The exploitation of that space is a fundamental tactic in their conflict with the West. So if these bots have been used to stir up through social media a violent response, I’m not the slightest bit surprised.
“People just don’t seem to understand the extent of the Russian attitude to conflict and the way every aspect of their relationship with us will be seen as a basis to attack us… the Russians think they’re in an existential conflict with us.”
