LABOUR’S NUCLEAR MELTDOWN
Thornberry refuses to say whether leader would ‘push button’
LABOUR’S defence policy was in meltdown last night after Emily Thornberry was unable to say whether Jeremy Corbyn would press the nuclear button.
In a series of interviews, the Shadow Foreign Secretary insisted her leader was not a pacifist – but could not say which wars he had supported.
She even suggested that any decision to press the button would be a collective one taken by the Cabinet.
Mr Corbyn, a lifelong opponent of nuclear weapons, has in the past said he would not authorise a nuclear strike – even though Labour is committed to retaining Britain’s Trident deterrent.
During his political career he has also spoken out against a series of military interventions by British troops. Yet this has not stopped him describing Islamist militant group Hezbollah as ‘friends’, and inviting convicted IRA volunteers to the Commons just weeks after the 1984 Brighton bombing.
In a round of broadcast interviews yesterday, Miss Thornberry repeatedly refused to say whether there were any circumstances in which Mr Corbyn could order Trident’s use.
She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: ‘No one in the end knows how they would use it, whether they would use it.
‘It’s impossible, I think, for any human to say whether they would be prepared to kill millions.’
She added: ‘I’m of the view that it’s best for us not to say one way or the other whether we would use it... just as we have done for generations.’
Pressed on what Mr Corbyn would do if an enemy had carried out a nuclear strike on the North of England and was planning another on London, she said: ‘Who knows? That’s kind of the point.’
The Shadow Foreign Secretary also suggested any decision on ordering a nuclear strike would be taken collectively by the Cabinet.
She told Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We will do everything we can... to protect our country if it becomes necessary. We will make those decisions together and Jeremy listens to his colleagues.’
Miss Thornberry was yesterday unable to name a single war Mr Corbyn had backed since 1945. Told that the Labour leader had opposed the Falklands War and the international peacekeeping operation in Kosovo, she said: ‘I personally felt we were right to do what we did in Kosovo.’
She added: ‘In principle, Jeremy is not a pacifist. We are not pacifists. There will be times when we need to use military force but when we use it we need to ensure that the use of the military force actually makes the situation better.’
Last night Tory veterans minister Johnny Mercer said: ‘If Jeremy Corbyn is unable to make crucial decisions to keep our country safe, he is not fit to be prime minister.
‘It is important that Labour clarifies their position on whether they would actually be prepared to use our nuclear deterrent.’
Admiral Lord West – a former head of the Royal Navy who served as security minister in Gordon Brown’s Labour government – said Mr Corbyn had already undermined the nuclear deterrent by saying he would never use it. He told Sky News: ‘I have real problems with Mr Corbyn. I think his ill-chosen words actually weaken the deterrent. When someone says, “I’ll never press the button,” he doesn’t understand deterrence.’
At the weekend, Mr Corbyn used a video marking Armistice Day to say a Labour government would ensure British troops were never again deployed in ‘unnecessary or unjust’ wars.
After becoming Labour leader in 2015, he made clear he would not personally authorise the use of Trident. Asked if he would use nuclear weapons, he replied: ‘No.’
ANOTHER day, another Labour car-crash. This time it was Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry trying (and risibly failing) to explain her party’s defence policy.
To be fair, it can’t be easy when your leader has spent his career opposing everything the British military stands for.
Mr Corbyn is anti-Nato, opposed every British military intervention since the Falklands and has said he would never authorise a nuclear strike (rendering the concept of deterrence redundant).
However, it’s unfair to suggest he’s never in favour of armed action. He backed the IRA’s terror campaign, Hezbollah’s bloody incursions into Syria and Hamas rocket attacks on civilian targets in Israel.
The thought of our national security in his hands should make everyone shudder.