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There are moments in politics when a leader steps up to a podium and decides that enough is enough. That was exactly the mood when Prime Minister Andy Burnham addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 22 September, and in his very first speech to that global gathering, he made a promise that went far beyond diplomatic pleasantries. Burnham announced that the UK would be setting up a brand-new national body tasked with one of the most urgent challenges of our age: tracking and dismantling the disinformation campaigns waged by hostile foreign states. The new organisation will be called the National Centre for Information Defence, and its mission is not simply to watch what is happening from the sidelines. According to Burnham, its job will be to “detect, attribute and disrupt” hostile state information attacks. In other words, this will be an active defence unit, not a passive monitoring agency. The Prime Minister used his speech to paint a stark picture of what Britain and other democracies are up against, describing an “industrial-scale assault” on the information environment. It is a phrase that sounds clinical, but the reality behind it is anything but. It is about armies of fake accounts, fabricated news stories, manipulated images, and carefully targeted lies, all designed to make people question the truth, distrust their institutions, and turn against one another. Burnham’s announcement signals a fundamental shift in how the UK intends to fight back: not with quiet reports and internal reviews, but with a dedicated, well-funded, and properly empowered unit built for the battlefield of the digital age.
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To understand why this new centre is needed, you have to look at the sheer scale and brazenness of the attacks that Britain has already faced. In his address, Burnham laid out a disturbing catalogue of Russian tactics, and he did not sugar-coat any of it. Russian agencies, he said, have used every means at their disposal to spread lies and disinformation and to prey on people’s fears. Think about that phrase for a moment — “prey on people’s fears.” It is not about winning an argument or offering a competing idea. It is about exploiting anxiety, anger, and confusion to destabilise society. The Prime Minister detailed the methods: bots designed to amplify division, fake websites designed to look like real news outlets, falsified newspaper articles, even the forged branding of no fewer than twenty-eight British organisations. These included universities and the BBC itself, which is a deeply cynical move because the BBC is one of the most trusted news sources in the world. If an attacker can make people believe that even the BBC is putting out propaganda, then every source of reliable information becomes suspect. Burnham also accused Russia of amplifying far-right narratives, and he stated plainly that there is evidence of attempted interference in the 2019 General Election. That is not a minor accusation; it is an attack on the very foundations of democratic choice. And the money behind all of this is staggering. Burnham put the figure at around £1.3 billion every year that the Kremlin spends on manipulating information. That is more than many countries spend on their entire public broadcasting systems, and it is all directed at undermining the credibility of open societies. To make matters worse, Burnham warned that artificial intelligence will multiply the threat enormously, making it cheaper and easier than ever to produce convincing fake content at scale.
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Perhaps the most striking part of Burnham’s speech was not just his diagnosis of the problem, but his willingness to admit that the UK has not dealt with it well so far. He argued that Britain has given far too much ground to those who want to run what he called a “negative, corrosive narrative about life in Britain.” That idea will resonate with many people who have watched social media become a swamp of cynicism and despair, where good news is ignored and every setback is amplified into proof that the country is broken. Burnham said, “We have tiptoed around this for too long,” and those words carry real weight. They are an admission that for years, governments of all stripes have been wary of confronting disinformation head-on, perhaps out of fear of being accused of censorship, or perhaps because the problem felt too big and too complex to solve. But the Prime Minister was clear that the consequences of inaction are far worse. He pointed out that people who are struggling with the cost of living, and young people who are not in employment, education or training, are especially vulnerable to this kind of influence. That makes perfect sense when you think about it from a human perspective. If you are worried about paying your bills, if you feel left behind, if you have no clear sense of purpose or hope for the future, then a simple story that tells you who to blame can be incredibly seductive. Disinformation campaigns thrive in the gaps left by insecurity and alienation. Burnham’s speech acknowledged that defending the information space is not really about technology at all. It is about people, and about giving them reason to believe that the truth is still worth trusting.
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So what will the National Centre for Information Defence actually do? According to the BBC’s reporting, the centre will work alongside intelligence agencies, government departments, law enforcement, and social media companies, bringing together the best available expertise to combat information warfare. The idea is to create a single hub where threat intelligence, digital forensics, and strategic communications can come together in real time. Instead of different agencies working in silos and sharing information too slowly or too cautiously, the new body will aim to coordinate a faster, sharper response. When a fake website appears, it can be traced and exposed. When a forged logo is used to spread lies, it can be attributed and publicly debunked. When hostile actors attempt to interfere with an election, there will be a dedicated team ready to detect the attack and disrupt it before it can do serious damage. Burnham also made clear that this is not just about defending the UK in isolation. He said that Britain is ready to share its understanding of how these actors work and how to respond, and he gave a concrete example: the UK has already supported Moldova to protect its elections from Russian interference. That is a significant point, because small countries are often the most vulnerable to this kind of attack, and they rarely have the resources to defend themselves. By partnering with them, the UK can help build a wider network of resilience against information warfare. But the centre will also need to navigate some very tricky questions, especially around free speech and censorship. Burnham’s language was careful, but the practical reality of disrupting disinformation means making judgments about what is true and what is false, and that is never a simple task.
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The Prime Minister did not stop with the new centre. He also revealed that the UK is developing a new AI defence partnership with the United States, with the goal of protecting national infrastructure from the growing threat of AI-powered cyber attacks and information manipulation. This is a recognition that the same technology that can generate beautiful artwork or write a decent email can also be used to create deepfakes, automated propaganda, and highly targeted influence operations that adapt in real time. Burnham’s message was that artificial intelligence is too important to be left to chance. “Fundamental decisions on this technology,” he said, “must be taken by elected governments who serve working people.” That is a clear rejection of the idea that tech companies should be left to govern themselves with little or no oversight. He announced that AI will be at the heart of the UK’s G20 Presidency next year, and that the UK will work toward a “single set of global principles and standards” to ensure the transparency and access needed to increase preparedness. This is a big vision, because disinformation is a global problem that does not respect national borders. A coordinated international approach is essential, and Burnham seems determined to make the UK a leader in that effort. He also left the door open for new legislation, saying the government will do whatever is necessary to protect the public, “including bringing forward new laws if that is what is needed.” That is a powerful commitment, but it also raises important questions about what those laws might look like, how they would be enforced, and how they would balance the need for security with the fundamental right to free expression.
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Chi Onwurah, the Chair of the Science and Technology Committee, welcomed the announcement, but her response came with a sharp warning that is essential to take seriously. She reminded everyone that the new centre, as described, will focus on hostile state disinformation — foreign threats aimed at undermining Britain’s democracy. That leaves the problem of domestic misinformation largely untouched. This is not a small gap. Onwurah pointed to the recent riots in Belfast as a clear example of how misinformation spreading inside the UK can cause real-world harm, regardless of who started it. Her committee had already recommended a single body to counter state disinformation threats in its July 2025 report on social media, misinformation and harmful algorithms, which was published after the Southport riots. That report also warned that Ofcom, the current regulator, was ill-equipped to tackle misinformation from both domestic and foreign sources. Onwurah’s message was direct: “Our warning stands. Today’s announcement will not tackle domestic dis- and misinformation as seen in the recent riots in Belfast. So long as misinformation remains unchecked there will always be routes for disinformation.” That is a crucial insight, because the line between foreign disinformation and domestic misinformation is often blurred. Foreign actors do not always create the lies themselves; sometimes they simply amplify existing divisions and conspiracy theories. If the new centre only focuses on the foreign element, it may only be treating half the disease. Onwurah urged the government to revisit the committee’s other recommendations, including measures to tackle the algorithmic amplification of legal but harmful content. That is a challenging suggestion, because it touches on free speech, platform responsibility, and the way social media algorithms are designed to maximise engagement by feeding people content that makes them angry or afraid. Ultimately, Burnham’s announcement is a significant step forward, but it is not a complete solution. It acknowledges the threat, creates new machinery to fight it, and gives hope to those who believe that lies should not be allowed to win. But the harder work, as so often happens in politics, will come in the details: building trust, protecting rights, and making sure that in defending democracy, we do not lose the very openness that makes democracy worth defending in the first place.