DEFENCE SUPREMO TO MEET NUKE VETS
Williamson’s pledge a ‘breakthrough’ in fight
DEFENCE Secretary Gavin Williamson will meet nuclear test veterans in a “breakthrough” for our campaign to honour them with medals.
In the Commons, Tory John Hayes, patron of the British Nuclear Test Veterans’ Association, asked Mr Williamson to back our campaign by “rewarding those brave people”.
The Defence Secretary said: “I would be honoured to meet with my right honourable friend and those test veterans at the earliest possible opportunity.” Shirley Denson, widow of RAF ace Eric, who was used in radiation experiments when he was ordered to fly through a nuclear cloud in 1958, said: “This could be the breakthrough we have been waiting for.
“Governments have ignored us for years. Perhaps this one will now give us the official recognition of a medal.” The comedian Al Murray, who has backed the Mirror’s campaign, said: “The risks these men ran and the exceptional circumstances of their service make the case for a medal obvious.”
It will be the first time a Defence Secretary has ever met the veterans.
Labour deputy leader Tom Watson, who is leading the fight in Parliament, said: “This is an important victory on the road to full recognition, not only of the servicemen who risked their lives for their country, but of the full extent of the risks they ran.” Mr Williamson’s pledge comes a week after we presented Parliament with our petition calling for recognition for the survivors of 1950s nuclear bomb trials. Jeremy Corbyn became the first party leader to meet the veterans and their widows.