‘Dangerous chaos’ over defence

LABOUr was in turmoil on defence last night as Jeremy Corbyn was contradicted by his own shadow defence secretary and election chief.

The Labour leader had suggested he could scrap Trident after he ruled out ever using nuclear weapons to protect the country.

But yesterday Nia Griffith, the party’s shadow defence secretary, said she was ready to press the nuclear button.

‘It absolutely will be in the manifesto because it’s firmly our policy and that’s been reaffirmed time after time,’ she told BBC Two’s Daily Politics. She said the option of force and the ‘ultimate deterrent’ meant ‘you are far more likely to actually sustain peace and security’.

Labour’s campaign chairman, Andrew Gwynne, also said Trident would be supported in the manifesto. ‘We are committed to renewing the Trident system,’ he told BBC radio 4’s Today programme.

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon attacked Mr Corbyn for questioning Labour’s commitment to the nuclear deterrent and for suggesting he would be reluctant to authorise a drone strike on the leader of Islamic State.

Mr Fallon told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: ‘I think you saw Jeremy Corbyn yesterday questioning strikes against terrorists, refusing to back the nuclear deterrent. He’s been querying our Nato deployment and he seems to have fallen out with his own party over the nuclear deterrent. That’s chaos, but it’s very dangerous chaos that would put the security of our country at risk.’

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron is to announce this morning that his party now backs the nuclear deterrent – after voting against its renewal last year.