"We don't need dangerous and costly Trident and cruise missiles," he stated back in 1983. The following year he called them,"...unacceptable, expensive, economically wasteful and militarily unsound."
Who did, you might be asking yourself?
Well surprisingly, these were the words of Tony Blair twenty three years before his decision to rush plans through parliament to update Britain's Trident missile-carrying nuclear submarines at an initial cost of £20 billion before he finally leaves office. The fleet will take an estimated seventeen years to develop and build and its shelf-life will run only until 2050. The final cost to the tax-payer looks set to run to over £70 billion. This is a programme that is fully supported by Prime Minister in-waiting Gordon Brown. The 160 warheads will have the combined power of 1,280 Hiroshimas - just one warhead that killed over 80,000 people in a single Japanese city in 1945. More than 90 Labour MPs voted against the proposed upgrade and the vote only succeeded with the support of the Conservative Party.
In 1968 the Non-Proliferation Treaty was opened for signature with the object of preventing the the spread of nuclear weapons technology, and to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy; its ongoing goal being complete nuclear disarmament. The Treaty entered into force in 1970 and 188 parties have now joined, including five nuclear powers - United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia and China. The Treaty is legally binding on all states that are parties to it. Pakistan, India and Israel (all nuclear powers) have neither signed nor ratified the Treaty while North Korea withdrew in 2003.
Prime Minister Blair has said that Trident is the country's "ultimate insurance" against the return of a threat from a major nuclear power or against the new threat from rogue states such as Iran or North Korea who might support nuclear terrorism. He went on to say that Trident would only be used in self-defence.
So are the government behaving illegally? Well this is a matter that is still up for debate. Critics argue that the agreement between the UK and the US is a contravention of NPT rules as the transfer of nuclear weapons between states is not permitted. The goverment claims that only technology is being transferred and therefore the NPT is not being broken. It is illegal under the NPT to use a weapon which cannot discriminate between civilians and militants. Does this mean Trident breaches humanitarian law?
It seems that the only way to make a decision on which side of the debate to stand depends on a moral and ethical judgement as to whether you think that the money is being spent wisely in a post-Cold War world where the threats facing the UK as a nation have transformed dramatically.
Protestors involved with Faslane 365 calling themselves No Nukes Northants know exactly which side of the divide they fall. Evoking the spirit of the Women For Life On Earth, who, in September 1981, marched from Cardiff to RAF Greenham Common Airbase in Berkshire to challenge, through debate, the decision to site 96 cruise missiles there. On arrival, their request for a debate was ignored and they set up the Women's Peace Camp and so began a most audacious and lengthy protest that lasted for 19 years.
On October 1, 2006, Faslane 365 began what is to be a one year continuous blockade of the Faslane Naval Base. The blockade will run until September 30 this year and Faslane 365 are asking a wide range of local, national and even international people from all sections of civil society to assemble at the base with a commitment to staying for at least two days to make their concept for a peaceful future visible, and to aid the idea to demonstrate/block the base all year round. Faslane 365 staunchly promote non-violent protest and absolute respect for the opponent and everyone invovled. They undergo preparation and training to make sure they meet these ends.
On April 2, a number of No Nukes Northants protestors from across the county joined the '365 protestors and held their first in a number of peaceful demonstrations at Faslane Naval Base, situated on the Gare Loch; extending northwards from the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. The NNN protestors ranged in age from 14-50 and took the marathon journey to the base to convene with other protestors (including Northampton Action For Peace) armed with banners, scripts and musical instruments.
First day festivities from the Northants party included a performance of their play, 'Anti-Nuclear Monologues' which was written especially for the occasion. It follows the personal history of four of the protestors from the Aldermaston marches in the 1950s via Greenham Common to the present-day remonstrations. They also read poems about peace, held a Ceilidh (Gaelic gathering) and sang peace songs while sporting a rather fetching array of slogan-splashed pants. As in Y-fronts.
According to NNN's Chris Lowe:
"I think one of the major problems with this government is that they think they can do as they please without the consent of the people of this country. Now is the time to say no, this is not what we want. We don't want to send out a message of war against other nations, we want to send a message of peace, this is how we can best assure a safe and stable future for everyone."
For further reading:
Trident On Trial by Angie Zelter, or visit:
