Gordon
Brown on WMD
Power corrodes
the mind?
1984
Brown is on record as declaring that ‘[Trident
is] unacceptably expensive, economically wasteful, and militarily unsound.’ (Trident, Official report 19th
June, 1984, Vol 62, c.188)
2006
- In a Mansion House speech Brown showed his sense of ‘national
purpose’ by ‘protecting security’ which involved ‘retaining our independent
nuclear deterrent’.
- In conversation with Cardinal O’Brien, Archbishop of St Andrews
and Edinburgh. After a fairly long
discussion with the anti-nuclear Archbishop, Brown eventually said. ‘We
will have to agree to differ’.
With the change of security focus to
terrorism and the looming problem of climate change, the case for getting rid
of Britain’s expensive, irrelevant and distracting weapon of mass destruction
is even stronger now than in 1984.
Though nukes are more ‘militarily unsound’ than ever, Brown has changed
his mind. He ought to explain why he now
considers nuclear weapons as reasonably inexpensive, economically productive,
and militarily sound.