LABOUR OFFICIAL: NUCLEAR DEFENCE POINTLESS

JEREMY CORBYN’S Election campaign was in crisis last night after a bombshell leaked tape showed he agreed it would be ‘bonkers’ ever to use Britain’s nuclear deterrent.

The tape reveals how the Labour leader discussed finding a ‘form of words’ to ‘shut down’ the furore sparked by his rambling performance on nuclear weapons in the TV Election debate on Friday.

And he appeared to ridicule anyone who believes that Trident could be used to defend the nation – even after a nuclear attack.

The truth about Mr Corbyn’s hard-line, anti-nuclear views is laid bare in a series of shocking exchanges with his Left-wing spin doctor Seumas Milne. Key parts of the conversation are punctuated by laughter as they poke fun at the notion of a ‘second strike’.

The intimate phone conversation between Corbyn and Milne took place shortly before midnight on Friday. It came after Mr Corbyn was heckled during a BBC TV debate in York, when he repeatedly refused to say whether he would defend Britain from nuclear attack.

The explosive leaked chat with Mr Milne, who was travelling back to London on his own, was overheard by a fellow passenger who recorded it – and took a photo.

There were long silences in the phone call as Mr Milne listened to the Labour leader. Mr Milne’s replies to Mr Corbyn, who stayed in York, make it crystal clear that the Labour leader would never press the nuclear button – even if the UK came under nuclear attack first.

And it shows his vague pledge to ‘do whatever is necessary to protect our people’ is a cynical ploy to conceal the stark truth: he would never use the Faslane-based nuclear weapons, even as a last resort.

In the long phone call, Corbyn and Milne discuss the series of tough questions he faced from the audience – and host David Dimbleby – on nuclear weapons.

After Milne congratulates Corbyn for surviving his nuclear battering, saying: ‘You got through it,’ they discuss the fierce challenges from the audience and Mr Dimbleby.

Milne says: ‘The whole discussion is completely surreal. No one has used nuclear weapons for 72 years and they are not independent at all.

‘The idea Britain would independently retaliate for some nuclear attack is all completely off the wall…’ After Corbyn, whose comments are inaudible, apparently agrees with him, Milne continues: ‘… completely bonkers. That’s why I’m always saying we should just say we will do whatever is necessary to protect our people.’

Milne agrees with Corbyn that Mr Dimbleby ‘pushed nuclear a lot’. Milne laughs as they candidly discuss why a Corbyn Government would never use nuclear weapons in a ‘first’ or ‘second’ strike.

Mr Milne chuckles: ‘The truth is, nobody would… it’s a complete emperor’s new clothes.

‘If there has been a first strike, what is the point of the second strike?’ Corbyn seems to concur, as Milne adds: ‘…yeah, it would have already failed and there would be no point. The whole discussion is completely bonkers.’

The conversation then turns to how Corbyn can recover. Mr Milne says: ‘Without looking defensive, we need [to] seal down the Trident thing so it doesn’t keep intruding in the next few days. We just need a form of words… to shut down the nuclear question.’

The spin doctor was on the 22.20 train from York to King’s Cross and appeared to be drinking a small bottle of wine. Educated at £35,000a-year Winchester College and the son of a former BBC director-general, Mr Milne, 57, had a 30-year career at the Guardian newspaper before joining Mr Corbyn’s team.

During his time at the Guardian, he spoke up for Stalin, refused to condemn Osama bin Laden after 9/11 and appeared on a platform with Vladimir Putin in Sochi after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014.

During Friday’s TV exchange, Mr Corbyn was barracked when he persistently avoided saying if he would fire Trident if the country was under ‘imminent threat from nuclear weapons’. Nor would he say if he would retaliate if Britain had suffered a nuclear attack. One questioner said: ‘Would you allow North Korea or some idiot in Iran to bomb us and then say “ooh, we’d better start talking”? You would be too late. You’d have to do it first, mate.’

Mr Corbyn said: ‘I would do everything I can to ensure that any threat is actually dealt with earlier on by negotiations and talks. The idea of anyone ever using a nuclear weapon anywhere in the world is utterly appalling and terrible.

‘If we did use it, millions are going to die – you have to think this thing through. I will decide it on the circumstances at the time.’

Mr Dimbleby accused him of ‘dodging the question’.

Crystal clear he would never push button